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GOLD HILL — Just four years after fears were raised that the historic Odd Fellows Lodge at the heart of town was at risk of being shuttered and sold by its parent lodge in Portland, the slowly growing membership of the little brick building at the corner of Fourth and Estremado is breathing a collective sigh of cautiously optimistic relief. From the outside, the same weathered-brick façade faces the railroad tracks where the town’s original core began. Inside, however, rotted flooring and sheetrock, a moldy basement and warped floor joists have given way to the results of donated labor and materials and relentless fundraising efforts. Boards salvaged from the old floor now serve as steps and beams, while a remodeled kitchen, new subflooring and updated bathrooms have all been checked off the to-do list. Members Deb West and Richard and Cathryn Davis showed off the renovated areas of the lodge recently, pleased with the steady progress over the past four years. “As we get a little bit of money, we use it to do something else. The amazing thing is that this building was built in 1898, and it is just as square and level as when it was built,” Davis said. Turning 80 this year, Richard Davis counts some of his earliest memories at the once-two-story lodge — an upper story was removed in the 1960s due to earthquake concerns and because of a bad roof. He attended his great-grandmother’s funeral there in 1947, and recalls it was the scene of his first dance in 1953. He remembers the lodge as a hub for community activity. While plans four years ago were just to get advice on how to save the lodge from ruin, goals now include new wood floors, a French drain to prevent the kind of water damage that almost destroyed the building and modernized wiring. Steadily increasing activities and events, West said, have both raised money and breathed new life into the 120-year-old space, with a growers and crafters market now in its fourth year and a newly formed youth club enjoying the clean, usable space. “We’ve got the restrooms converted to where they’re handicapped-accessible, the rotting and bowed wood flooring has been torn out and subfloor installed, now we’re debating what to do with the ceilings. We even discovered two original windows buried in the back wall that we’re going to make into a pass-through to the kitchen,” she said. They also hope to eventually restore the old brick façade. Davis said the price tag — at a whopping $160,000 — means the remaining work will have to wait, but transitioning the lodge from an unusable state to a hub of activity, with membership increasing from five to nearly four dozen, is heartening. “Four years ago it smelled so bad you couldn’t stand to be in here. We weren’t able to even use the lodge,” he said. “We still have to get a finished floor across here — we have about 10 or 12 different ideas about how we should do it — and we need to redo the wiring. But we’re getting there. It’s usable now. We couldn’t say that before.” He added, “It looks better now than it did in 1947.” Estimates to “finish” restoring the lodge, West said, are as hard to pinpoint as a list of projects that will ultimately need completed. “With any old building, you think you know what you need to do, and you get in there and find out there are 10 other things. You finish one thing and then you find something else that needs done, so you just do it even though you had other plans,” she said. West said restoring the lodge is a true labor of love for volunteers and members who value its role in the community. While civic lodges have slowly faded away around the country, West and Davis said meeting community needs and providing a place for neighbors to connect is needed more than ever. “The thing is, really, that we have been working to return the heart to Gold Hill so that people have a place for gathering again — a place that’s enjoyable and clean and safe,” West said. “We’ve just made huge progress on this building, and it’s been really gratifying to see we can walk into a clean fresh kitchen and do things with it for the community. I can understand the reluctance to joining us before. It looked like a health hazard. Probably the most gratifying thing of all is, now that we’ve got the lodge semi done, we can have these youth gatherings and we can invite the community to the lodge. It’s a wholesome place for the community to come together like it was always meant to be.” The growers and crafters market is held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday at the lodge. For info about the lodge or to learn about membership, see www.facebook.com/groups/820787587999151. Contact West by email at [email protected] . Reach freelance writer Buffy Pollock at [email protected] .