Tualatin’s Winona Grange Celebrates 125 Years

By Marilyn Reiher, Grange Master (president)

Tualatin’s oldest community organization was founded long before Tualatin was incorporated in  1913. Twenty-four-farm family members met in 1895 to organize the Grange and chose the name Winona to honor the deceased eldest daughter of J. R. C. Thompson. Winona Cemetery is also named after her. Thirteen of Winona Grange’s first members are buried there.

Who were these first members? Edward Byrom is a familiar name because the elementary school is named for him. Jurgens Park and Avenue are named for William Jurgens who served as Treasurer until his death in 1909. Laura Thompson, a 19-year old teacher, was the first Secretary. Later she served as Tualatin’s Postmistress.

Initially Grange meetings were held upstairs over Thompsons store on the third Saturday of each month. Minutes of those meetings survive. They began at 10 am, recessed for “dinner,” resumed at 2 pm, and concluded with a program of music, recitations, and discussion of a topic like the automobile just coming on the scene. After renting above the Thompson store those first years, members wanted their own meeting place, so in February 1939 members voted to build a two-story building on a lot donated by Grange Treasurer L. P. Johnson. The first meeting in the new hall was held on February 26, 1940.

In 125 years, Winona Grange has had 37 Presidents. Many are familiar Tualatin names: Cimino, Sagert, Robbins, Pohl, Christensen, and Martinazzi. While the number of farmers in the Tualatin area declined, the number of Grange members steadily increased. The Grange had 100 members in 1944 and 200 in 1951 because the national Grange Insurance Association offered low-cost coverage.

However, Winona Grange did not lose its agricultural connection. Agriculture Committee Chair Mark Lafky (grandfather of THS Historian Sandra Lafky Carlson) and others reported at each meeting on victory gardens, backyard chickens, how to deal with moles, slugs, and other pests, and even cautions on the use of chemicals. Today, AgChair Norm Parker reports at each meeting.

The Grange is non-partisan, meaning the organization does not support any candidate or party. For more than 30 years Sears, Roebuck and Company sponsored a nationwide Community Service contest for Granges. In 1981 Winona won first place in Oregon over 272 other Granges. Members volunteered over 1,700 hours. Their primary project was designing the Tualatin-Durham Senior Center, now named after Juanita Pohl, one of the four Grangers on the seven-member committee. They visited 16 centers from Portland to Springfield to observe what worked. In addition, Winona Grange recycled 4.5 tons of newspaper, collected old eyeglasses, made toys for the Waverly Children’s Home, and donated $800 to charities.

In 2021, Winona’s primary project was sending boxes of vegetable and herb seed packets to community gardens and other Granges around Oregon and SW Washington.

From 1947 through the 1950s Tualatin needed social activities for high school aged teens. The Grange hall was the perfect place for dance lessons and dances that attracted more than 60 each week. Many became Grange members.

There have been challenges, too. The most serious was the flood of ’96. The Tualatin River overflowed leaving 46” of oily, smelly water and mud on the ground floor of the hall, ruining the oil furnace and kitchen appliances. Thanks to Tualatin firemen, the Lion’s Club, and square dance clubs renting the building, the contents were cleaned and disinfected, and money was raised to replace or repair furnishings.

An aging membership no longer holds a community fair, public breakfasts and dinners, plays, or card parties. Now the hall is rented by many groups. The Grange now partners with others to host free or low-cost classes on such topics as first aid, gardening, and mental health.

Winona Grange had its official dedication on April 11, 1941.

In 1941, Hillar Ibach and his team donated a day’s work to level the ground around the newly completed Winona Grange hall. Other members matched his offer.