Author's collection
Postcard, postmarked 1930
About This Image
In 1903, the Iowa chapters of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) and its women's auxiliary - the Rebekahs - founded a home for orphans and the elderly in Mason City, Iowa. The home supported a boys band whose evolution over the years has been recorded in a series of postcards. This postcard, postmarked 1930, shows the band posed in front of a bus. In June of 1930, the I.O.O.F. Home Band of Iowa went on tour, giving performances throughout the state. I have not yet been able to determine whether this postcard was taken on the tour or whether it was made prior to the tour and sold as a souvenir of their performances.
The I.O.O.F. closed its Mason City Orphan Home in 1966 at which time it also sold off much of its surrounding lands. The I.O.O.F. Home & Community Therapy Center continues to this day to serve the elderly.
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