History of Hooked Rugs Sought

DAYTON – Longtime Dayton resident and former Hawthorne Gallery owner Patti Eaton is on a historical quest to glean information about the Halpine Society, a fundraising group organized by the Dayton First Congregational Church in 1892. Eaton is especially interested to learn more about the hooked rugs made and sold by local women who belonged to the society.

Eaton recalls, in her early years, hearing people talk about the church ladies making rugs. As a child, she had no interest in the group and didn't pay much attention. Now she wishes she had.

"This is a valuable piece of local history that we are just letting slip by," Eaton said. "I'm hoping that we can find a few rugs to photograph and document. I'd like to learn where they've gone and find out as much as we can about them."

Eaton said she has asked several women about the group and that some "kind of" remember hearing about it. She has been unable to nail down many specifics but she does have a few clues.

Dayton resident Dallas Dickinson researched the history of the First Congregational Church and mentioned the Halpine Society in a historical summary in the church's archives and posted on the Washington Secretary of State website.

Dickinson said that in 1889 four young male Yale graduates, after much discussion and prayer, traveled together to work in Washington, which just gained statehood. Dr. Penrose was assigned as pastor to Dayton.

According to Dickinson's historical summary:

"Dr. Penrose believed that a true Congregational church was an educated one - that those in the pews as well as in the pulpit should be intelligent. So he formed two chautauqua circles, and he took an active interest in building up the public library.

"The Halpine society was organized in 1892 and held its first sale that year, at which a fine collection of Chinese pottery purchased in Portland by Dr. Penrose sold rapidly and raised a substantial sum of money for the organization. In 1894, Dr. Penrose resigned his duties here, and after a brief period as a supply pastor in Honolulu he became associated with Whitman College, and to this now great institution he gave the best years of his life."

Eaton said she knows several people who own rugs made by Halpine Society members. But aside from those rugs and the one historical reference, she has hit a dead-end in her research.

"I believe it was a moneymaking, charity-type project, but I'd love to know more. Did they take orders for rugs?" Eaton asked.

"We have a great historical society here, but this area (rug hooking), has not been touched on. And it is one of interest," she said.

Eaton, a rug-hooker herself, says the style and technique of the Dayton rugs is a little different from what was traditional at the time.

"Different sections of the country may have taught different ways of hooking," she said. "Traditionally, rugs were hooked on burlap and gunny sacks. The women who made these rugs clipped their loops, which is unusual. I'm hoping to find out if that was unique to the area and would like to build a file of the rugs we find."

Eaton was already an avid quilter when she became interested in hooking rugs. She said that both Joyce Davis and Pat Owen were instrumental in nurturing her in the hobby. Today, Eaton meets weekly with a group of ladies who get together to create their own works of practical art.

"In the past women hooked rugs using wool from old clothing," she said. "In fact, they would use whatever they had to try and cut down the drafts from old floors. They were making something out of nothing, to keep their families warm, but also to make something attractive."

Eaton said that the last of the ladies who would really know about Dayton's Halpine Society would be in their mid-eighties, today. "If we're going to record that knowledge, we need to grab it now," she said.

Anyone with information on the Halpine Society or rugs produced by society members can email Patti at hawthornegallery@my180.net or call her at 382-2835.