Lafayette Lodge #65

Lafayette Lodge #65 was established in 1857 in the Gold Rush era town of La Grange, settled by French prospectors in 1848, on the banks of the Tuolumne River. Our IOOF Hall, built in 1881, is listed on the National Register. Early La Grange history included all types of Gold mining, from panning, sluicing, hard-rock mining, destructive hydraulic mining to mighty mechanized gold dredging. La Grange is also the site of the earliest California irrigation system, with the diversion of the La Grange dam which serves Modesto and Turlock Irrigation Districts. In later years the town became the center of cattle ranching, boasting the La Grange Rodeo founded in 1948, oldest of the area, and earliest, held annually on the first Sunday in April. La Grange, where the West begins and you meet your friends.