I.V. Grange will celebrate; present citizen of year award
From our weekly issue dated April 23, 2008
Today’s Illinois Valley Grange Hall on Holland Loop. (Photo by Roger Brandt)
An open house and award ceremony will be held at Illinois Valley Grange Hall on Friday, April 25 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in celebration of April as Grange Month.
The hall is at 3763 Holland Loop. The free event for the valley community will include a fund-raising spaghetti dinner for the Illinois Valley Section of the Boys & Girls Club.
Besides Grange displays and the meal, a Grange Community Service Award will be presented, said Kendell Phillips, Grange president. He provided the following.
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The word “grange” is not something heard in day-to-day conversations, but if you lived in England or France during the Middle Ages, you would know the word meant granary or barn.
Hundreds of years later, a new agricultural organization, the Patrons of Husbandry, formed in 1867. Within the next few years, the organization became known as the “grange,” perhaps because the meeting halls built looked like the long, narrow granaries constructed during the Middle Ages.
The Grange was one of the first formal groups to admit women to membership on an equal basis with men. Boys and girls 14 years and older were eligible for full membership admitted on equal terms with adults. Each member had one vote.
Interest in the Grange movement peaked in the 1870s, and it was during this time that the first Oregon State Grange was organized in 1873. Two years later, on Jan. 5, 1875, Grange #178 was established in Kerbyville. It was Josephine County’s first Grange.
The Grange Movement experienced a decrease in popularity during the 1890s. The Kerbyville Grange appeared to follow the national downturn and went dormant around 1896. However, when interest in the Grange Movement increased in early 1900, the Kerbyville Grange was reorganized and relocated at Bridgeview in 1907 under the new name of Illinois Valley Grange, #370.
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It is uncertain why the Grange was moved to the small and remote community of Bridgeview rather than being re-established in Kerbyville. The reason may have been the concurrent establishment of Deer Creek Grange near Dryden (Lake Selmac area). There may have been a decision to put more distance between the two Granges to provide better service to residents and decrease competition between the two halls for membership.
Construction of the building was paid for by Dr. James Spence, a resident of Bridgeview. John Green Sowell was the contractor with help from Wallace Kohler, who lived aapproximately a mile down Takilma Road from Bridgeview.
In 1910, Spence sold the building to the Illinois Valley Building Association, which then rented it to the Grange, veterans and other organization that wanted to use it as a meeting hall. In 1931 the building was purchased by the Grange for $600 from the association.
Constructing a building of that size in 1904 was not as easy as if it were built today. There were no power tools, and electricity did not come to Illinois Valley until after 1931, many years after Spence Hall was finished.
The building was originally a two-story structure, and dances were frequently held on the first floor. When midnight came, the dance would stop and everyone would go upstairs for supper. The price of supper was included in the cost of the ticket.
It is interesting that John Green Sowell and Wallace Kohler, the two people who built the building, often played their violins for the dances.
The second story of the Grange was removed in 1957 because, according to a quote from Wallace Kohler in a 1983 article by Illinois Valley historian Ruth Pfefferle, they had constructed the building incorrectly.
During the very earliest years of the Illinois Valley Grange, school classes were held in Spence Hall until 1912 when Spence School was finished. When the school opened there were 16 students and nine grades.
Popularity of the Grange waned in the 1920s, and in 1927 the Illinois Valley Grange went dormant. In the early 1930s, the popularity of Granges increased nationally and this trend appeared to influence the reorganization of the Illinois Valley Grange in November 1930. It is interesting that the Illinois Valley Grange Master was Ashby Fulk, who had attended school in the Grange building when it was used as a school in the early 1900s.
In the early part of the 1950s, Illinois Valley Grange set up a cooperative grocery and supply store in the old Josephine County Road Dept. building, a structure erected in the 1930s and located immediately east of the Grange Hall. The store closed after a couple of years of operation.
Illinois Valley Grange continues to be active, and provides a variety of community services. They include a Community Food Bank, serving on the I.V. Medical Center Board, participation in the B.O.O.K. Project, and teaching courses on canning and restaurant skills.
It also supports 4-H, sponsors men’s and women’s baseball, and provides a place for dinners, tool sales, and meetings. Members carry on the tradition started in the 1860s of providing community service and equal opportunity.
- Roger Brandt
