Church and Grange turning 100

It appears that 1909 was an extra-busy year on Green Bluff.

In March of that year, the Green Bluff Community United Methodist Church was built, and soon after the Green Bluff Grange went up, just across the road.

This weekend, the two community institutions have joined forces to celebrate their 100-year anniversaries.

“We figured, why not join forces and do this together?” said Helen Laws, master of the Grange and a member for 50 years. “Many Grange people are members of the church as well.”

Laws said the current white Grange building replaced the original, which burned down.

“This was once a hotel in Elk,” Laws said, sitting inside the Grange hall last week. “We have pictures of people standing over by the church, looking this way, as they were building the basement.”

For years, Green Bluffers – as they like to call themselves – held dances on the top of the basement without a roof overhead.

“It must have worked fine for them,” Laws said.

Today, steel cables spanning the entire Grange hall hold the walls in place even when a heavy snow load covers the roof.

“It really is a neat old building,” said Laws.

The Green Bluff Community United Methodist Church also had to be rebuilt after a fire.

“The first church burned down in the early ’40s,” said Pastor John Southwick. “We are very excited about this celebration and we’re hoping some of our former pastors will come up and join us.”

As part of the celebration, the Grange has published a cookbook that features 200 pages of local recipes.

“The recipes come from the Home Ec Club, from Grange members, from many different people,” said Priscilla Davis, community service chairman for the Grange. “We have also added and updated some Green Bluff history to the cookbook. The last Grange history book was from 1984.”

Laws said that the focus of the Grange remains the same: to be an integral part of the community.

“We deal with agricultural legislative concerns and issues such as water rights,” Laws said. “Nationally, farmers are only 3 percent of the population and up here, most of the farmers are part-timers.”

Among the traditional farms, orchards, and pumpkin and corn fields that most connect with Green Bluff, newer and bigger homes with horses outside have popped up.

Yet the heart of the community remains tethered to farming and the seasonal celebrations of crops like cherries, peaches and apples. And these Green Bluffers wouldn’t want it any other way.

“We hope that by having the church celebration at the same time as the Grange, we can gain some collective energy,” said Southwick, adding that Green Bluff may be changing, but it’s a strong community. “Yes, we are concerned about the next 100 years – but we try to be so in a positive manner.”