Lodge #65 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of California was formed in 1857 in LaGrange, where one of the oldest continuously occupied buildings stands. The Odd Fellows bought the county’s two-story jail in 1862 and used it for meetings until 1880. That year they bought land from Mrs. Margaret A. Basso for $100 in gold coin and contracted member G. W. Jones to build a two-story Greek Revival structure for $1350. The new lodge, including two outhouses behind the building, was completed on November 13, 1880, and officially dedicated on April 26, 1881. In February 1883, Alfred Warrington was paid $15 to make 16-inch-high gilded letters for the front of the lodge. A front porch was added in 1884 for $15, and in 1885 new handmade wooden chairs arrived by ship from London by way of Cape Horn; those chairs remain in use today. Electric lights were added in 1908. LaGrange was the Stanislaus County seat from 1856 to 1862.