In the latter part of 2010, WB Roy W. Murray began looking for a new home for Garfield #50. During that search he came across several locations, but one seemed to be the right "fit" for us...
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Originally founded in 1926 as the Pleasant Hill School, the building functioned as a two classroom schoolhouse for many years until being consolidated with the Mead School District.
The Grange took posession of the school in 1950, naming it "Liberty Grange", where it had remained an active part of the community.
In the past 10 years or so, the building has had less activity, being used for several different purposes including a church.
The 4H still uses the building to this day, on the First and Third Thursday's of the Month.
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| Liberty School 1926 |
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As all things do, this building needed a lot of TLC to bring it back to life.
There were several things that were needed to be completed for a Masonic Body, or any group, to move into the building...namely...we needed a new Roof!
WB Roy Murray worked with a local contractor who added a new steel roof which in Roy's words - "Will last longer than the rest of the building". Now, having a good roof, and a strong foundation, we were ready to begin...
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| The Grange - April 2011 |
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| Main Hall, Looking East |
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| Main Hall, Looking West |
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| Dining Hall, Looking East |
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| Dining Hall, Looking East |
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| Kitchen, Looking East |
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| On the surface, it didn't look too bad. A little paint, some cleaning and we should be good to go! Or so we thought....
Things aren't always as quick and easy as they seem... but nothing in life worth getting really is anyway, so...
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There was a soft spot in the floor... it had a piece of plywood over it, so we weren't quite sure what it was. We pull up the plywood, and found a small hole in the floor. A few minutes later - with the help of a circular saw - we found out why the floor had the plywood...
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| Just a "little bit" of water damage |
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| It continued... |
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| and continued... |
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| New Floor in place! |
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| Half of the floor is concrete, and the other half is wood. They used the wooden side for dances, as it is better on the feet. Unfortunatly there were large bushes growing next to the building that had a very "agressive" root system. The damage to the floors was from one of the roots that grew through the 18" thick concrete walls, between the concrete and the hardwood floor.
With years and years of water damage spreading slowly throughout the wood substructure, the floor just gave way in sections. We had no choice but to remove it - remove the offending plants, plug the cracks in the concrete, and have a new concrete floor poured.
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From the beginning of June 2011 through July 23rd, we spent most of every weekend (some Friday's included) working on the building. It was a labor of love for us - restoring the building to usefull service, not just for our Lodge, but for those who remember the building and what it represented to the community.
There was nothing better than when one of the "Grangers" would stop by to see the progress.
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