Hazel Grove Club minutes and booklets.

By Beverly Clinkingbeard

Neighborhood clubs were once the social outlet of the farm wife, who often had few social occasions in her life. Perhaps the currently popular Facebook is a simile of the neighborhood club, but it surely lacks the depth of friendship, a reason to wear a better dress and an afternoon with the girls.

Neighborhoods were defined by their school district boundaries.  The neighborhood club of Hazel Grove survived a couple of neighborhood spats, but couldn’t survive the trend of women working outside the home, the loss of population in our rural areas and small towns and/or scattered interests.

The Hazel Grove Social Club celebrated 50 years in 1977 and came into existence in 1927. A final note is made in the March 10, 1995, minutes, “Hazel Grove Club met with Fern Ebert. (Fern joined in 1957.) With so few members it was decided to disband the club. Discussion followed as to what to do with the record books. No decision was made. Cash on hand was $7.46. Fern Ebert, Sec’y.”

The club records eventually found their way to the Atchison County Historical Society. With the closing of the historical society, the books have made their way back to Blanchard. The Hazel Grove neighborhood is approximately two miles south of Blanchard and the school, officially Hazel Grove, but better known as Chicken Bristle, was the focal point of the neighborhood. The club had members from Eureka and Emporia neighborhoods, as well as from Blanchard.

Hazel Grove, at the corner of what is now State Hwy. M and 120th Street, Atchison County, was a settlement before the railroad established towns, such as Blanchard and Elmo. It was a stage coach stop and a place to pick up mail and a few supplies. (Whether it as an actual stage coach as we know from western movies, or wagon service, is unclear, however, it offered people transportation and was a link with Lamar Station in Nodaway County. The Lamar Station Hotel was quite small, but it had an upstairs porch that was the approximate height of a stage coach. Trunks and luggage could be removed or loaded on the top of the coach without lugging them up or down stairs.)

Hazel Grove also had the first telephone service in the area. The phone was conveniently located at the school as it was the focal point of the neighborhood. (How disruptive would that have been for the teacher and students?)

Members took turns hosting club. This usually meant a good house cleaning, and if there were home improvements to be made, such as painting or new flooring, it was done before entertaining club. The minutes often reflect that refreshments were delicious and a new recipe introduced.

Before the advent of paved and gravel roads, weather and road conditions always had to be contended with. Many older ladies did not drive a vehicle and either rode with a neighbor, or hoped her husband had time to provide transportation. It must have been a keen disappointment to be hostess and have all prepared, only to have a snow storm, or downpour of rain, make the roads difficult or impassable.

Roll calls were often entertaining and inventive. An exchange of flower and garden seeds, “Where would you like to spend your next vacation?” or, perhaps a pink and blue shower, birthdays remembered, a Sunshine Pal recognized, a picnic at Crystal Lake, a riddle given, kindness of a friend, a pet peeve, name a favorite teacher, a favorite recipe exchange, collection of club dues (in 1971 it was $.50), and unmentioned in the minutes, a bit of gossip. In later years, the group visited  places of interest, dined at a restaurant, shopped or visited elsewhere. There was usually a person designated to send birthday, get well and sympathy cards.

Small membership booklets were made with construction paper and ribbon. Each member received a booklet. The booklets were made with a typewriter and carbon sheet, then cut and fashioned to size. Member names were listed and the activity for the month included. One year they had a float at the Westboro Lord’s Acre Day Parade. Some years the minutes reflected more organization than others.

The poem, “Hazel Grove Club,” may describe it the best:

Years ago a club was started by my good wife and partner May. I don’t remember now, just the year or month or day. I told Mom that a woman’s club would help the neighborhood. She said that was what the club was for, to try to do some folks some good.

“The next thing that they thought about, was to give their club a name. So as most of them lived in Hazel Grove, they would call the club the same. Hazel Grove sometimes called Chicken Bristle, stood a hundred years or more. Many people got their education by passing through that school house door.

“So they called their club Hazel Grove, a famous name we must admit. But it was to be a famous club, so no other name would hardly fit. I don’t know all the good things that they done, like sewing clothes to help the poor, and taking food where folks were sick – and there were many many more. When someone was sick and in the hospital, they would send a nice bouquet, and maybe a get well card, to help them to a better day. Like I say, I just don’t know, all the good things that they done. At home they had to cook and sew, but when at club they had some fun.

“They even took us ornery men, to College Springs to supper there. And the good things they had to eat, was a sight I must declare. Fried chicken, cake and salads, they even had ice cream, and the jellies and preserves for bread, and that coffee was a dream.

“Hazel Grove Club is still remembered, talked about by young and old, for the girls that made it famous, each one had a heart of gold. That famous club has now disbanded, and the school house gone away. And those dear girls that made it famous, what is left is old and gray.” Fred Beck (1892-1978)

’Til next time.