07:35 PM CST on Wednesday, February 16, 2005

By RICHARD ABSHIRE / The Dallas Morning News

Among the latest changes to downtown Garland: a full-service bar, live jazz on the weekends and a restored landmark.

...accountants Bill Dunn and Julie Dill are enjoying the view overlooking the square from their new offices in the former Masonic Lodge above the Garland Opry.

"We wanted to retain as much of the original building as we could," Mr. Dunn said.

That includes hardwood floors, some of the windows, part of the ceiling, and brickwork in the shape of Texas on one wall.

The Masons' and Odd Fellows' buildings were built side by side in 1897. They share a common front on Sixth Street, a firewall and the staircase behind the door on State Street. The two-story brick structure survived a fire that destroyed several downtown homes and businesses on Thanksgiving Day in 1899, according to local historian Michael Hayslip.

The Odd Fellows owned the upper and lower floors on the south side of the structure, the Masons both floors on the north side. The groups met in the upstairs rooms and rented out the ground floors.

The Masons rented to drugstores for years. Dryer's was first, and then McKnight's. The Masons left the square in 1960 and sold their building to A&S Properties – Dunn & Dill' landlord – in 2003.

Nicholson's Variety Store occupied the first floor on the Odd Fellows' side for more than 50 years.

Karen and Robert Scott bought the Odd Fellows' building in 2002 and opened McGillicuddy's Antiques there in February 2003.