Grand Lodge of North Dakota

Ancient Order of United Workmen

Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, September 4, 2023

1. Grand Lodge of North Dakota Marker

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From the National Register Nomination:
The A.O.U.W. Building is significant in terms both of the history of Fargo and North Dakota and the architectural history of the region. The Ancient Order of United Workmen was itself an early North Dakota institution, one of a number of secret fraternal societies of the early post-settlement period. The first Grand Lodge of the A.O.U.W. was founded at Jamestown in 1883, but by 1907 the Fargo Lodge #5 was the state's largest lodge with over 400 members. The fraternity met in rented quarters in several locations until 1915, when the Roberts Street building was completed. The Roberts Street location remained the home of the lodge until 1927 when the organization moved to newer facilities on North Tenth Street. The A.O.U.W. eventually ceased to be a fraternal order and became the mutual insurance company known

Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, September 4, 2023

2. Grand Lodge of North Dakota Marker

The marker is mounted at the right/north corner of the front façade.

as Pioneer Mutual Life.
For many years the A.O.U.W. building has been associated with the Interstate Business College, which was housed there until 1978 when the school relocated. Interstate Business College has been an important educational institution in the Fargo area, serving a wide region and providing quality business education for several generations.
The A.O.U.W. Building is representative of an architectural style which might be termed Commercial Classical, which is being gradually eliminated from North Dakota cities and towns. The building is handsomely proportioned and exhibits details and craftsmanship impossible to attain in contemporary construction. This building also is representative of a specialized historic building type. From the 1870's through World War I, fraternal organizations in the region typically occupied impressive structures designed with meeting halls on the upper floor and speculative commercial space on lower floors. In Fargo only the Masonic Block or Dakota Business College and the A.O.U.W. Building remain essentially intact as representatives of this building type. Although the A.O.U.W. Building was built some thirty years after the Masonic Block, the two structures display a marked similarity in internal organization and history. The Firm of Haxby & Gillespie, architects for the A.O.U.W. Building, was formed about 1905. The partnership

Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, September 4, 2023

3. Grand Lodge of North Dakota
(east/front elevation)

From the National Register Nomination:  The uppermost portion of the Roberts Street facade is divided into three horizontal bands. Wreathed medallions flank the first one of brick; the second consists of a bracketed cornice projecting nearly two feet and wrapping around the corners of the facade.

continued to operate in Fargo until World War I and produced a number of important buildings throughout North Dakota.

The Grand Lodge of North Dakota, Ancient Order of United Workmen was built in 1914 in Early Commercial style. It was designed by architects Haxby & Gillespie. Also known as the Fossum Building and as Interstate Business College, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It served historically as a clubhouse of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and as a business.

The Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW) was a fraternal organization in the United States and Canada, providing mutual social and financial support after the American Civil War. It was the first of the "fraternal benefit societies", organizations that would offer insurance as well as sickness, accident, death and burial policies. The Ancient Order of United Workmen of North Dakota evolved into the Pioneer Mutual Life Insurance Company, which was taken over by American United Life Insurance Company and is now part of OneAmerica.

Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, September 4, 2023

4. Grand Lodge of North Dakota
(entrance detail)

From the National Register Nomination:  The entry is framed with a simple molding and surmounted by a bracketed pediment with apron, upon which are incised the sans-serif initials "A.O.U.W."

Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, September 4, 2023

5. Grand Lodge of North Dakota (cornice/parapet detail)

From the National Register Nomination:  A brick and stone parapet including the insignia of the A.O.U.W.

Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, September 4, 2023

6. Grand Lodge of North Dakota (northeast elevation)