Growing up in the rural countryside of Putnam County, Illinois, Gail Hammerich knew a thing or two about granges. As a child, Hammerich used to visit grange halls for local events such as dances, fairs and other celebrations. However, while taking a historic preservation class at the University of Oregon, Hammerich found that she was one of few historic preservation students who even recognized the word “grange.”

Hammerich took it upon herself to spread the word. Through the preservation of Eugene’s Willakenzie Grange Hall, Hammerich became a local resource on granges and their halls.
According to Hammerich, “granges” were late 19th and early 20th century farmer organizations that actively spoke of current social and political topics related to their lifestyle. With their movement came the construction of their meeting halls, traditional buildings that eventually became community centers and gathering spots. While most granges and halls surfaced in the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest also had its share.

Willakenzie Grange #408 of Eugene, built the local Willakenzie Grange Hall in 1918 and named the hall after the area’s Willamette and McKenzie Rivers. While the old meeting hall does not need much work, Hammerich wanted to teach her peers about the structure and its history.
“I had a general knowledge of granges, but I didn’t know the extent of their influence,” said Hammerich. “I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to show people the influence of the grange organization.”

Hammerich did so through a nomination project in her historic preservation class. Hammerich’s class, which focused on how to nominate historic buildings for preservation, presented students with a list of buildings in the area that could potentially be admitted to the list of protected structures deemed by the National Register, a National Park Service organization concerned with preserving historic structures.

While other students chose historic churches or homes, Hammerich wanted to propose the preservation of the Willakenzie Grange Hall, a building most students had never heard of. While most students pretended to nominate structures for the National Register, Hammerich actually nominated the grange hall. Hammerich worked all through 2008 to nominate the landmark.
“It’s a long process to actually nominate a structure,” said Hammerich. “Each nomination has to pass review about four times.”

In October of 2008, the grange was officially nominated, and in February of this year the grange became Oregon’s latest entry into the National Register of Historic Places.
Hammerich has since continued her research on the granges in the Lane County, in order to compose her thesis. “There’s actually not a lot of information out there,” Hammerich said.
As a result, Hammerich is creating a survey and an inventory of the existing grange halls in Lane County. To conduct research she has spoken with the master of the Oregon State Grange, read through grange meeting minutes and gone through various archive collections at local historic societies. As far as she knows, there are 28 grange halls in Lane County alone; all but one of them are fully functional.

» Learn more abou the UO Historic Preservation Program