Name/Title
PlaqueEntry/Object ID
2024.28.1Description
Capital City Grange plaque. Its shape is angled, wider at the top, with notched top corners and pointed base. The wooden plaque is painted a pale slate blue and has "VERMONT" stenciled in black across the top and "SINCE/1871" across the bottom. The middle of the plaque has a gilt applied grange insignia with the same angled edges as the plaque itself, with a gold sheaf of wheat in the center and blue and white "P of H" (Patrons of husbandry) across the rope binding the sheaf. Across the base of the sheaf is a blue banner with scrolled ends that says "GRANGE" in white.Context
About the Grange from https://capitalcitygrange.org/history-of-the-capital-city-grange/
"Capital City Grange was chartered in May, 1914, and originally met in a Hall in downtown Montpelier, on Elm St. After World War II, faced with increasing property taxes and maintenance costs, the Grange and the Odd Fellows Fraternity sold the Hall they shared, and purchased property on the Northfield Road, south of Montpelier, on which to build a new Hall.
Construction began in fall of 1952, and was completed in 1953. The Hall was built largely with volunteer labor! Workers included men and women, continuing an inclusive tradition which has been part of the Grange since its founding. The Grange owns an 8mm film, which has been put onto a DVD, showing Grange and Odd Fellows members working on the Hall in all phases. The film chronicles opening ceremonies with Grange and Vermont state dignitaries, and concludes by showing the burning of the mortgage for the property in 1966.
Grange Halls have hosted dances from the earliest days of the Order, as a vital part of the rural social life. Dances of all sorts have been held at the Capital City Grange Hall since its construction—the dance floor was an important part of its construction and design! Sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, a regular contra dance began being held in the Grange Hall, coexisting with a regular Western Square dance originally. In the late 1990s, the Grange began to find itself running out of members and energy to keep the building going. Master Les Skinner invited the regular renters of the Hall, including the contra dancers, the Church of Christ and others to help the Grange with maintenance work—and to consider joining the Grange as well. It took a few years, and a recurring sense of emergency need to recruit a new crop of members for the Grange, mostly from the contra dance community. The VT State Grange was initially reluctant, not wanting people to join “just to save the dance hall”, but was persuaded that there was a true interest in the traditional purposes and activities of the Grange, as well as the desire to save the dance hall!"Acquisition
Accession
2024.28Source or Donor
Capital City GrangeAcquisition Method
GiftDimensions
Height
20-1/4 inWidth
15-1/2 in