Founded in 1862 and continuously operated by Santa Cruz Lodge #96 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Santa Cruz Memorial Park grew from a modest lot to more than 30 acres of well maintained grounds, has had endowment care since the turn of the century, and has long been a source of community pride. Many of the area's early pioneers and founding fathers are buried there. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a nonprofit fraternal organization dedicated to the advancement of all mankind. One story about the order's name, passed down from the old English guilds, tells of a group who gathered the bodies of deceased peasants and orphans left in fields outside towns and gave them proper burial, an act their countrymen considered odd. Rooted in that tradition, Odd Fellowship is pledged to visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead, and educate the orphan.