'On March 16, 1846, the Motolinia Lodge No. 18 of the International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) was instituted in Rochester. A benevolent organization, the Odd Fellows included some of Rochester’s most prominent men. By the end of the first year it had 48 members. Other lodges in the area soon grew from this one, including Woodbine in Farmington, Miltonia in Milton/Milton Mills, Kennedy Lodge and Norway Plains encampment in Rochester and Cocheco Lodge in East Rochester.

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The Motolinia Lodge soon began leasing the upper story of the Rochester Academy for 10 years at a cost of $20 per year. In 1874 the Odd Fellows began building a three-story, brick, late Victorian commercial building on South Main Street in front of the Academy. The third floor had taller windows for the lodge that filled the entire floor. The second floor contained offices and a spacious banquet hall. At ground level, there were three stores that made the building a paying investment. The stores had cast-iron storefronts with plate glass windows with transoms and recessed central entries. The roofline was accentuated by brick corbelling. In the center of the façade an inscription stone reads 1875 IO of OF.

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J G Morrill and Company, a grocery store, occupied two, and sometimes all three, stores from 1875 into the 1900s. Its successor was Frank I. Webber, and then H. E. Speed, Edward Blake and Parshley’s Self Service Grocers. Businesses in the mid-1900s included Crossley and Collins electrical supply stores, Rochester Laundry, Arnold Clement Sanitation Supply, Sundeen’s, Elsie’s Restaurant, and Filter Queen Vacuum Company.

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In 1907 the IOOF quarters were renovated and a celebration, including a banquet, music by the Motolinia Orchestra led by Lewis S. Clark, and games of whist, was attended by 300 people. The banquet room had been enlarged to seat 230 and an adjacent smoking room had been added. The lodge had a membership of about 260 and was called very prosperous. The hall was commodious and in first-class repair with white and red electric lights and a fine spotlight. In 1908 it held a venison and chicken supper with entertainment attended by about 300 people. A “large fat deer” had been presented to the Lodge by member James H. Foss of Strafford.

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Following the Civil War, the Odd Fellows became the nation’s largest fraternal organization, even larger for a time than the Masons. In the 1920s it had more than 2.6 million members worldwide, but during the Depression its numbers fell and never recovered.'​ — Excerpt from a May 2018 article in Foster's Daily Democrat, with information provided by Martha Fowler, president of the Rochester Historical Society

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​The original building was connected with a newer adjacent brick building in later years, and the block was purchased by New England Hospitality in 2024. A New Hampshire-based hotel company, New England Hospitality is converting the property to a 55-room hotel to serve the growing community. Opening around Thanksgiving 2025.