Spiritual & Social Sustenance

Spiritual and Social Sustenance. . People needed more than food and shelter on a frontier fort. In 1875, soldiers of the 1st Infantry built a chapel that included a library and an Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) meeting hall., Since the chapel was not a military building, it was built with funds and labor donated by off-duty soldiers, local citizens, and Echo Lodge No. 2 of the IOOF of Dakota Territory., "Handsomest Church in the Territory" , The beautiful stone church had a bell tower, stained-glass windows, black walnut pews, and an organ. The post library was located in the west wing and held over 1,500 volumes., The chapel became the center for the social and intellectual life of the fort, and a welcome diversion from gambling and drinking, common ways of dealing with the tedium of daily life on an isolated fort., Caption: , Soldier members of Echo Lodge No. 2 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, one of the largest fraternal organizations in the United States from 1860 to 1910. John McLaughlin, who became the fort's caretaker after it was abandoned, is pictured in the middle row, far left.