IOOF Building

The IOOF building in Vanlue has been in the town since 1883 and has been used for multiple different businesses. The building has been used for many different restaurants and is still being used today. It was also used as a hardware store and a grocery store. It has been an important part in Vanlue's community for many years and still is.

The IOOF building was built in 1883 by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for only $6000. This building at the time is only the right half of the building that is there today. In 1907 they made an addition to the building on the south side that made it what it is today. The building is a two-story brick building that has served as a restaurant for many different owners.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a non-political and non-sectarian international fraternal order of Odd Fellowship. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland. The IOOF organization is dedicated to helping and improving their communities. This building was used as the hall for the organization in Vanlue. The members of this lodge were John Wescott, Aquilla Gilbert, Abram Brown, Hiram Plotts, Joshua Myers, Orville Gorden, Henry Watkins, and Benjamin Scott.

In 1898 the lower floor of this building was purchased by Jerome Herman and was used as the only grocery store in town. In 1912, the store was sold to O.A. Diver and sons Curtis and Frank who came to Vanlue from West Mill Grove. The Divers operated the store until 1925 when they sold it to L.C. Dipert and his son Paul. The next owner of the store was Tom Sherick before it was closed down and turned into a restaurant. The building was then used for Katies Kitchen which was a dine-in restaurant. Katies Kitchen owned and ran the restaurant part of the building until around the 1990’s.

Between the 90’s and the early 2000's there was no restaurant in the building. Around 2008, the building was then used as The Corner Chalet until about 2014. The building was then used for GG’s restaurant from 2014 to May in 2018. These businesses were dine-in style restaurants, being the only ones in the town at their time. The building was then rented by Jeremy and Amy Kloepfer in August 2018 and is used for the Wildcat Café. This restaurant is also a dine-in style restaurant and is currently open all week from 6am to 8pm.

Hinkle, Ercil. Vanlue History. March 12th 2022. Accessed March 14th 2022. https://villageofvanlue.com/documents/401/Vanlue_History_03-12-2022_combined.pdf.