Omer Masonic Hall

This churchlike white frame structure with its graceful cupola was built in 1890 as the second Arenac County Courthouse after the first courthouse on this site burned the previous year. Omer had been part of Bay County until Arenac was organized in 1883 and the city, then a village, became the county seat. Less than a decade later, voters made nearby Standish the county seat. The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Michigan purchased the building in 1893 for the Omer Masonic Lodge, and that group and the Order of the Eastern Star still hold meetings here. After surviving the disastrous fire of 1914 that swept through Omer's business district, the edifice housed the temporary headquarters of several firms. It is one of the city's oldest buildings.

Omer, Michigan · United States