Milton Odem House

Milton Odem was born in 1906 in Oklahoma but spent most of his childhood in Idaho. He got married in 1923 and then, it appears, moved with his new wife, Flossie (it's also spelled as Fossie), to Redmond that year. They bought the Highway Theater, which was housed in the Atkinson Building (next to the historic New Redmond Hotel building) around this time and eventually changed its name to The Mayfair. They opened another theater called The Odem in 1937, which is now a restaurant called the Odem Theater Pub. The Odem was designed in the Streamline Moderne style and Odem liked it so much that he chose the style for his house, which as noted above, was erected in 1937. The Odems added another theater in 1952 called the Odem-Medo Drive Inn. They sold the theaters in 1959 but Odem did co-establish a used car dealership.

In addition to his business interests, Odem was also involved in the community. He served as a member of the Redmond Airport Commission and also served on the City Council and the Redmond City Planning Commission. He was a member of the Redmond Kiwanis Club, the local American Legion post, and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army signal corps in New Guinea. In his later years, Odem was the director of the Bank of Central Oregon and a board member of the Central Oregon Electric Cooperative. He died in 1963 two days after he was badly injured when a horse he was riding rolled on top of him.

House, Michael. "Milton Odem House." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. February 21, 1997. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/fb2a8ae9-c3ac-44e3-9537-613edabed7c8.