100 Block-South

The plaque mentioning Odd Fellowship, shown here, is actually located at 131 E Main Street (North side of the street) directly in front of the First Fidelity Bank – Downtown Norman.

The worst structural fire to hit Norman occurred on July 7, 1902. It wiped out wooden buildings on the south side of Main Street that were immediately east of the railroad tracks. The Norman community responded by replacing the wooden shacks with brick buildings, which had already been erected on the north side of Main Street. (Despite the stronger structures on the north side of the street, those buildings also sustained considerable damage from the heat of the fire.)

“… Those early brick buildings that followed the fire on the south side included Barbour’s Drug Store at 100 E. Main, a popular place to meet friends and the I.O.O.F. Lodge was upstairs. The men could get a shave and a haircut next door at Ira Wheeler’s barber shop, an elaborate shop decorated with marble and mirror walls.… Merchants got tired of Main Street becoming a mudhole and pushed for street paving by 1911. Electric lights followed giving Norman the appearance of a thriving business district.”