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History of Granville (in Bradford County PA)
By Ruth Kinney
Retyped by Linda Selub & Christine Keel
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Chapter XI
Granville Center Grange No. 309
The Grange was organized on July 30, 1874 by the District Deputy Charles E. Gladdings. The charter members were Orlando and Esther Taylor, Valentine and Polly Saxton, Joseph and Jane Woodin, Samuel and Hannah Rockwell, Volney and Laura Taylor, Sylvester and Permelia Putman, Charles and Maria Clark, Uriah and Mary Baxter, Alburn and Adell Morse, Levi and Matilda Taylor, Orrin and Emily Fuller, Titus and Osena Bailey, Noah and Sarah Clark, Decatur and Emily Pepper, Joel and Annie Porter, Orselus Baxter, C. L. Streeter, Benjamin Baldwin, M. B. Porter and Oscar Saxton.
The first meetings were held in Taylor Hall located in the store that burned on the site of Morrisons’s garage until December of 1875 when they moved to J. F. Baileys hall in the Corners. This hall was located in the large home on the corner. The members being from both communities, hence differences in opinion arose and on June of 1887 by vote of the grange they decided to move back to Taylor Hall. They had held the meetings at Bailey hall for nearly 12 years. They paid $2.00 to have their furnitre moved back to the Centre for a meeting in July of 1887. In the early days the grange sold sugar, salt, soda, oil and raisins to the members.
The first Master of the Grange was Valentine Saxto, father of the late Fred Saxton. Matie Bailey served as Secretary of the Grange from 1913 to 1946.
On November 1, 1876, the Worthy Master appointed a committee of five to meet at Troy to take in consideration of the possibility of a Fire Insurance Co. for the benefit of the patrons of the Grange.
During the year of 1891 they began looking for a place of their own to hold their meetings. On May 6, 1891, they bought a lot of John Shedden and plans were drawn to build a hall. In the meantime Charles Sayles offered to sell his house for $180.00 This house, formerly a much larger building was built in 1849 by Levi Taylor as an inn. It has been said that a man from Elmira made all the carvings and trimmings outside and inside at a cost of about $100.00 and a year to complete.
It cost $80.00 to get the building moved to their lot. The log, being rather small, they bought 6 ft. more land from P. R. Warren in May of 1892 for a north boundary for $10.00. The Grange held their first meeting in their own hall in May of 1892 just eighteen years from the time it was organized. In 1906 they voted to fix up the rooms downstairs for use as a dining room. Prior to this they had rented the rooms as living quarters.
In January of 1908 a motion was made to give the Church $5.00 towards the shingling of the church sheds. This was because the members used the sheds to stable their horses on meetings dates. For many years the meetings were held in the afternoon during the winter months.
In December of 1923 new gasoline mantel lights were purchased for the hall. In January of 1937 the hall was wired for electric lights.
In the December 1919 minutes, there was a discussion about the high cost of living. Wonder what they would think about the cost of living now!!
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Published On Tri-Counties Site On 10/30/99
By Joyce M. Tice
Email: JoyceTice@aol.com
