This cache was hidden by the board of the Odenton Heritage Society
Old Masonic Hall – The former Masonic Hall served as the meeting place for Odenton Lodge 209 of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons from 1912-2001. Lodge 209 became a home away from home for soldiers assigned to Camp Meade during WWI. The OHS acquired the building in 2001 and it is now the Odenton Heritage Society Historical Center, which serves as a local history museum, public archives, the Society’s office and a community meeting place.
Odenton-In 1840, the steam-powered Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad (A&ERR) passed through the area now called Odenton. At the beginning of the Civil War, Union soldiers guarded this railroad because it was the only link between the North and the nation’s capital. Rail traffic through Baltimore had been disrupted by Southern sympathizers, so supplies, mail and soldiers flowed through Annapolis and west Anne Arundel County to Washington.
After the Civil War, Maryland Governor Oden Bowie, who was also president of the Baltimore and Potomac (B&P) Railroad, built a steam-powered railroad from Baltimore to Washington. A station and telegraph office were constructed at the junction of the B&P and A&ERR. Train service began on July 2, 1872 and the junction would bear the name Odenton after Oden Bowie. The rail junction (today’s MARC station) in Odenton, already a busy thoroughfare from Annapolis to Frederick, became the site of Odenton’s first commercial center and the town grew outward from the junction.
Shortly after 1900, an electric interurban railroad parallel to the B&P was built and the A&ERR was electrified. The Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis (WB&A) Electric Railroad provided frequent passenger service and stopped at rural communities near Odenton. Naval Academy Junction, the point where the two WB&A lines crossed, offered the best public transportation in central Maryland. This junction (today’s Piney Orchard Parkway and Academy Junction Plaza) became the core of new “downtown Odenton”.
The Odenton Heritage Society is located at 1367 Odenton Road Odenton, MD. The museum is open the first Sunday of each month from 1-4 PM.