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Hampton’s Little River Grange was founded 1885.
The Grange Hall was in operation from 1906-2003.
Read more about the National Grange Movement & Organization
here and about the Connecticut State Grange Movement
here.
Growing up With the Grange in Hampton:
Memories
Walt Stone:
We used to square dance there every Saturday night. Most of the time I
walked to and from the grange, four and a half miles. Walked home at
midnight and got up at 4 o’clock in the morning to milk the cows.
Peggy Hoffman:
The times I remember most were right after World War II. We used to have
some great programs. A lot of work went into those programs. Everyone
participated. There were competitions, and whist parties, and fairs, and
very large meetings. Those were the years that stand out in my memory.
We had a good time.
Henry Moon:
We put on a lot of plays. In one I remember “Murder in the Light House”
Marguitte was the one who was murdered. The light house was a pail with
a lantern on top. Bob McDermott (senior) let us borrow the Hampton Hill
Garage carts, the ones that go under the cars, for a stretcher. We ran
around that light house nine times with that stretcher. People provided
sound effects. Storms, wind. I remember “Murder in the Barber Shop”,
too. We used catsup for the cut throat. There was catsup all over the
place. We used to do a lot of that stuff in the old days. We had
contests, people with glasses versus people without glasses, people
living east of Route 97 versus people living west of 97. The Grange
brought everyone out. We used to know everyone back then.
Pearl Scarpino:
Little River Grange Hall sits empty now, but I remember when it was THE
action center of the community. Neither of the town’s churches had large
halls as they do today. So many a wedding reception was held in the
Grange Hall after the ceremony, including my own. There were weekly
whist parties at the Grange enjoyed by the adults, and regularly
scheduled square dances for the young and young at heart. Many different
groups hired the hall for their activities. A drama club put on plays
and local music groups put on concerts. The Grange itself put on suppers
or chicken barbecues. It was a busy place. During the World War II years
particularly, the building saw heavy use. With gas rationing, residents
couldn’t buy pleasure gas to go out of town, so business boomed for
local facilities. Times have changed, and with change, use of the Grange
Hall declined. It was the end of an era, but an era that created fond
memories for my generation.
Minnie Halbach:
Those were the good old days. There were all sorts of things at the
Grange. My son John won the State Prince title. My oldest son Adolph was
elected the National Prince of the Grange in 1968. He was the only one
who came back with the title.
Peggy Fox-
I remember our competitive programs. We divided the Grange members
according to the alphabet, gender, all sorts of ways. Once we had a
fashion show. The men were all dressed as women. I remember Jim
Rodriquez (senior) sprawled on a settee dressed in pink satin. My father
was dressed in a suit, and my mother nearly fainted when he came out in
heels and a purse. We had women’s degree teams when we took on new
members. Dorothy Holt had a lot to do with that. We all wore long black
skirts and white blouses and had parts to say. Walt Stecko who was Chief
of the State Police taught us how to march. The ceremony was preliminary
to new members joining.
Dale Pearl
Demontigny: My parents were there all the time. I remember as a
young child going to the grange for whist parties. I had no idea how to
play, but I would walk around with a little hole punch and punch the
holes in a piece of paper. Every year my mother did a report and sent it
to the state grange level, what people in the town did, volunteer hours,
what they sponsored, two boxes worth of documents we gave to the
Historical Society. My parents did the chicken barbecue for 40 years.
Many members of the Pearl family were Grange masters. I remember the
fairs and the entries- flowers, sewing, baking, art. There were many
performers. I remember Fred Curry, Bert Inman, Don Widerman and Don
Hoffman and their barber shop quartet.
Claire Winters:
My mother played whist every week there. She wouldn’t have missed those
whist parties for all the world.
Future Uses
As we read about the
activities of the Little River Grange in years past, and the uses
today’s Hampton organizations would like to make of the building, we see
striking parallels. We know from the memories of former members,
described above, how meaningful these activities were to the community
and its families. And we also know that today’s Hamptonites of all ages
often express desires for “more to do” in town. What a serendipitous
moment we have at hand!!
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Scout meetings and activities
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Community theater, student
performances
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Contra dancing and square dancing
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Historical lectures and exhibits
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Seniors’ meetings and programs
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Art exhibits
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Music recitals
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Craft and art lessons and
demonstrations
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Flower shows, other gardening and
horticulture programs
Reprinted
with permission from The Hampton Gazette
Photos
Photo:
Hopeful Juvenile Grange c. 1910
 click
picture for larger image
HOPEFUL JUVENILE
GRANGE, HAMPTON, c. 1910
Back row: Mrs. George [torn], Cora Booth, Kitty Riley,Vera
Jewett, Evelyn Pearl, Margaret Jewett, Mrs. Nellie Cleveland
Second row: Arthur Fitts, Leighton Nosworthy, Cecil Decker
Third row: Margaret Nosworthy, Mary Decker, Winnie Copeland
Front row: Harold Booth, Violet Booth, Stella Decker, Fenton
Mills.
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Photo:
Little River Juvenile Grange
id’d by 1991 Vera Jewett
1st row on floor:Fenton Mills, Estella Decker, Violet
Booth, Josephine Congdon, Jimmy Simpson, Frank Simpson, Richard Kimball,
Victor Howe
3 graces tables:Margaret Nosworthy, Clara Stone, Esther Kimball
2nd row: May Congdon, Evelyn Pearl, Mary Decker, Vera
Jewett, Cora Booth, Kathryn Riley, Arthur Kimball, Arthur Fitts, Harold
Booth (back of A. Fitts), Quinton Howe, Alice Stone, Vivian Stone
3rd row: Rhena Howe, Mrs. George Fitts, matron, ?
Holloway, Hazel Huling, Cecil Decker, Leighton Nosworthy, Evelyn Avery,
Mrs. Nellie Cleveland, Margaret Jewett, Arline Thompson
_____________________________________________________
Photo: Grange kids
circa 1949 in bathing suits, unknown location, unknown kids
click picture for larger image
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Photo:
Cover of booklet for original dedication.
______________________________________________________
Photo: 95th
Anniversary, Barbershop Quartet
Fred Curry, Don Widerman, Don Hoffman and George Fuller
click picture
for larger image
_______________________________________________________
Photo: 95th
Anniversary, group shot
Front row: Joyce Pearl Rodriguez, Simone Fuller, Mal McKinnon,
Sue Emmons Gray
Second row: Bill Pearl, George Fuller, Alma Pearl Palmer, Austin
Emmons, Don Hoffman
Back row: [unidentified], Arthur Pearl, Adolph Halbach Jr.
All photos are
from the Killingly History Center collections, where the Grange folks
deposited their records when they dissolved.
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