Grange celebrates 100 years of service

Photos by Clare Jensen

Pierce County’s oldest grange is celebrating a century of community service this month.

Edgewood’s grange hall, located along Meridian Avenue, turned 100 in January, and on June 13 grange members plan to officially celebrate the occasion.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., grange doors will be open to the public for cake and coffee, and perusing the stacks of historic photos and memorabilia spawned at the grange over the decades.

Grange Secretary Dee Jarvis said she hopes people will come and possibly recognize an old relative in some of the photos of early 20th century Edgewood.

“All these photos I have, with people and their carts and buggies and Model-T Fords  …it was all here,” she said. “We hope they would come and see their grandma or grandpa (in a photo) and help us celebrate.”

And for those who do not see their family lines in old photos at the grange, they can still take a little time to recognize the grange’s longstanding contributions to the local community.

For more than 10 decades now, grange members have volunteered their time and energy in the name of community service. During the Jarvis’ 22 years with the grange (Dee’s husband Loren is grange president) the close to 100 members have made impacts felt both within the city limits and beyond.

Bake sales and car washes have raised money for the local fire department, March of Dimes and food banks. For the past five years, grange women have sewn and donated an average of 20 quilts a month to wounded soldiers returning from the wars, as well as for babies in need.

They grant scholarships for schools and camps, donate dictionaries to third graders each year, were key sponsors for saving and restoring the Edgewood Windmill and lent a helping hand to senior citizens during the damaging floods earlier this year.

“What we do is community service,” Dee Jarvis said. “If you wanted to get involved in your community, and do something in your community, you’d come to the grange. This used to be the center of the community.”

Drop by the grange for cake, coffee and a peek into Edgewood’s history and the grange’s long commitment to community service. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., June 13 at 1806 Meridian Ave. E. in Edgewood. For more information call the grange at (253) 927-4833.

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