Arkwright Grange No. 1249

The Arkwright Grange was formed September 16, 1911 in Frank Horton’s hall by Deputy Charles H. Pearson of Cassadaga. There were 45 charter members, four of whom are still members. Delos Cole was chosen first master. Later on, the Grange rented a house north of the Center and held their meetings there. Soon a Grange hall was talked of. Charles C. Cole gave the Grange a building site. Some of the timbers and lumber used in the building were salvaged by a committee which purchased the Canadaway Cheese Factory. The new Hall was dedicated by State Master Sherman J. Lowell with appropriate exercises on June 21, 1916. On May 8, 1926, the mortgage was burned. During the years that the Grange Hall was first occupied, the members worked faithfully and willingly to raise the money to be free from debt.

The Public Works Department notified the Grange in 1962 that the Hall would have to be razed or moved due to reconstruction of the corner at the highway crossings. Procedures were taken and the Hall was moved to a site east and across the road. This was done May 24, 1962 by Lynn Luder and Company. Extensive renovations were made and the Hall rededicated Nov. 29, 1962. The Grange disbanded in the spring of 1974 and the Society of Friends now own the building.

http://sites.rootsweb.com/~nychauta/HISTORY/Arkwright/ArkwrightTownHistory.html#9

Virginia Cardot Cannon remembers the Arkwright Grange Hall:

My personal memories recall only a small sampling. As a child I remember racing around the upstairs room while my mother, grandmothers and aunt as well as other ladies were busy in the downstairs kitchen preparing the famous oyster stew supper for the Arkwright residents and families after the November election. I have no memory of how many years those suppers lasted, a tradition started by newly elected supervisor, my dad Earl Cardot, and the elected superintendent of highways. The only name I remember in that capacity was Merle Palmer, but I am sure there may have been others. The supper was free to everyone in the small township, regardless of political party – voters or not. The hall served as a meeting place for many activities, as Arkwright had no church or places to congregate.

Square dances took place on Saturday nights with the caller keeping pace with the fiddle player. ..my parents were both grange members and were on the grange debate team, another example of how the grange served the community. Although my parents grew up as neighbors, as high school students and beyond, they had gone separate ways. The debate team brought them together again. My dad often joked they “married and had been debating ever since.”

-Excerpts from an article in the Dunkirk Observer in 2016.

These photos and information provided by Ruth Nichols, Arkwright Town Historian