The Odd Fellows is a fraternal order like the Freemasons that was founded In England. The most popular theory for the name comes from the 1700s, when men of a certain trade would join a guild; for workers whose small ”odd” trade wouldn’t garner a large local membership, they formed their own lodge, the “Odd Fellows.” The American lodge separated from the British lodge in the 1800s. The Washington lodge, co-founded by Bernard F. Hempstead, sat on Conway Street, two blocks from Block 6 and the 1836 Courthouse. In 2006, it was discovered that artist Edward Payson Washbourne, best known for painting The Arkansas Traveler, was listed as renting a room as a studio on the third floor of the building in March of 1856. The building itself was lost to the 1875 fire.

Edward Payson “Washbourne” was listed as being born to Cephas Washburn in Arkansas in 1831; however, this was in the thin western strip disputed with Indian Territory, so he was actually born in present-day Oklahoma. By treaty with the Choctaw, the Washburns were forced to move to the northeastern corner of Oklahoma, where Edward started his interest in art. In 1851, the Washburn family moved to Fort Smith, where Edward began his formal art training and started selling portraits. It was also at this time Edward and his siblings began spelling their name as “Washbourne,” mainly to distinguish themselves from northern relatives. In 1853, Washbourne reportedly traveled to New York to study under Charles Loring Elliott, but returned to Arkansas lacking the funds to travel to Europe. Having studios everywhere from Fayetteville to Fort Smith to Little Rock and Washington, it was from Sevier County in 1856 that Washbourne wrote to his brother that he had painted what would become his most famous work, The Arkansas Traveler. Based on the folktale and song, it depicted the traveler on horseback and the backwoods squatter playing his fiddle outside his shack. The painting was selected for printing by lithographer J. H. Bufford of Boston, and at its launch in 1859, became a smash hit. Unfortunately for Edward Washbourne, he didn’t get to see much of his success, as he suddenly fell ill in Little Rock and passed away in March of 1860, just months after turning 28.

Montgomery, Don. "Old Washington Research Report: Bernard F. Hempstead and His House in Washington, Arkansas." Published August 28th, 1987.

Washington Telegraph, March 5, 1856.

Bennett, Swannee. "Edward Payson Washbourne (1831-1860)." Encyclopedia Of Arkansas. December 7th, 2022. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/edward-payson-washbourne-504/.