Members Hope to Revive Waitsburg Grange

WAITSBURG – The Grange has played "a huge role" in the lives of Rick and Terry Ferguson and their family. Rick's great-grandparents, grandparents and parents were all members of the Starbuck Grange. "I grew up in that Starbuck Grange Hall – roller skating, eating pie, and going to dances," he said.

Rick's family later moved to Huntsville and he met and married his wife Terry. The couple has been actively involved in the Waitsburg Grange, Washington State Grange and National Grange throughout their married life. In a unique (and fitting) twist, they built their family home using lumber from the Huntsville school – the very first meeting place of Waitsburg Grange #1.

Now, the Waitsburg Grange Hall on Highway 12 is for sale. Rick hopes the sale will allow members to find a new meeting place and revive what was once a thriving local organization. The building is 86 feet by 36 feet and sits on about nine-tenths of an acre.

The National Grange

The National Grange, formed in 1867, is America's oldest farm-based fraternal organization. It began as a way for farmers to have political input as they worked to limit the powers of the railroad and grain brokers' monopolies. The Grange worked for tax reform, women's suffrage, preservation of public lands and is responsible for legislation that allowed the formation of public utility districts and the implementation of the blanket primary election process. Locally, the Fergusons credit the Starbuck Grange with writing the resolution that eventually led to the widening of Highway 261 near Starbuck.

Community involvement and service is an integral part of the Grange and chapters were expected to make a Grange Hall open to activities for both members and nonmembers. These halls often served as the town's community center, providing social and educational resources. The Grange was unique in that it welcomed women as equals rather than creating auxiliaries like similar organizations. From its beginning, female members had full voting rights and the ability to hold office. The Grange is also a family organization and children are encouraged to participate in meetings and voice their opinions alongside the adults. At the age of 14, they are considered to be a full member.

Local Early History

Waitsburg holds the distinction of being home to the very first Grange in Washington – though it wasn't Washington State at the time. Waitsburg Grange #1 was organized in 1873, when Washington was still a territory, and fell under the jurisdiction of the Oregon State Grange. The Washington State Grange was organized two months before Washington became a state, as farmers became concerned with the proposed constitution. The Waitsburg Grange was the first chapter chartered in Washington in 1889 and celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2014.

The Waitsburg Grange originally met in the Huntsville schoolhouse and the current Waitsburg Grange Hall was built in 1938. Terry Ferguson said that Waitsburg, McKay (where her great-grandparents were members) and one other Grange combined to build the hall. "Back then people had to get to the Grange by buggy, wagon, horse or on foot so it wasn't unusual to see Grange halls every 10 or 15 miles," said Terry. Rick recalls that the Granges built the floor of the building and held dances on it for a couple of years to raise funds for further construction.

Local Recent History

The Fergusons say their three children (Angela, Heather and Reade) credit the Grange with helping them get where they are today. "They learned about the legislative process, public speaking, and leadership skills, and got to travel all over the U.S. as part of the National Youth Team," said Rick.

Their daughter Heather, an educational director for Washington County Museum in Hillsboro, Ore., is on the State Grange Historical Society and is helping compile the state archives in Olympia. Rick and Terry were selected Washington State Young Couple of the Year in 1983-84 and National Young Couple Runner-Ups the following year and Rick was a State Executive Committee Member for 15 years.

The Fergusons have seen the Grange go through several membership cycles in the years they've been involved. "It depends on what kinds of activities you're doing and who gets involved that wants to be active," said Terry. "The neat thing about the Grange is that it can be whatever you want it to be. Each Grange is in tune to its own community and each community has its own needs," she added

The Waitsburg Grange has met those needs in many ways, including social events, BINGO, a haunted house, benefit dinners and auctions for people who were ill, scholarships, donating a trailer to FFA and providing FFA rotation animals. "If a student took a cow for a year, they got to keep the calf and then they passed the animal on to the next person," said Rick, explaining what a rotation animal is.

A look at the 1995-96 activity roster shows that the hall was used for Boy and Girl Scout meetings, 4-H, Pheasants Forever, Alcoholics Anonymous, the Junior/Senior Prom, Grange dances, weddings, Rural Health Care meetings and local and state Grange meetings. "We had just remodeled the inside right before the flood came through and ruined it. That really took the wind out of our sails," said Terry.

Waitsburg Grange Today

The Fergusons say that there were "easily" a hundred active members prior to the flood of '96, which rendered the Grange Hall unusable. Today, there are "about 42" members, though not all are local or active. Rick and Terry are currently Southeast District Youth Directors and support Youth Team finalists and Rick is president of the National G.R.O.W. Club, an alumni youth program. John Hazelbaker is the current Waitsburg Grange Master. The Grange continues to take responsibility for Waitsburg's annual Easter egg hunt where Rick has played Easter Bunny for over 40 years and Grange members color and hide the eggs.

Rick says Grange members don't meet often since they no longer have a meeting space and they would like to sell the old hall. "The building itself is sound. Kids got into the inside and broke it all apart but it's built strong. You probably couldn't push it down," he said. The Grange is currently accepting written bids on the property, and members would like to see the Grange find a new permanent meeting place where they can hold functions and become active again.

Anyone interested in Grange membership or making a bid on the hall should contact Rick or Terry Ferguson at (509) 337-6207.