111 East Main Street/Odd Fellows-Citizens State Bank Building

Built in 1898, this two-story brick building is one of the most historic in downtown Richardson. Originally, the local "Eureka" chapter of the International Order of Odd Fellows operated a meeting hall on the second floor, which they allowed other clubs and groups, such as the Richardson Concert Band, to use for various purposes, while the downstairs was Stansell's grocery store until 1904, when it became the Citizens State Bank, which operated there until 1955, when it moved to a new building on West Main Street. In 1931, the City of Richardson bought the second floor and used it as a city hall until 1933, when it sold the space to the local Masonic Lodge. The Masons remodeled the building in 1938, replacing the year "1898," which had previously been prominent on the upper front of the building, with "1924," which is the year their lodge was founded. It is still visible beneath the stucco, along with a Masonic symbol. In November 1933, robbers broke into the bank's vault by cutting a hole in the door with an acetylene torch and stole $115 worth of pennies and some valuables from safe deposit boxes. The perpetrators of the "Penny Robbery" were soon caught, brought to trial, and sent to prison. After the bank moved out of the building, the lower floor was occupied by a dry cleaners, and then, from 1963 to 1972, by The Richardson Daily News. In 1965, the Odd Fellows returned when they bought the upper floor from the Masonic Lodge. Over the years since, the building has been used for a wide variety of commercial enterprises, including, most recently, a Hookah bar.