At a meeting on Sept. 20, members of the Meenahga Grange, which has included members of the former Nobleboro Grange since the beginning of this year, voted to sell the Nobleboro Grange Hall on Back Meadow Road.
The building is more than a century old and has long been a center of the Nobleboro community. The stage upstairs at the hall once hosted plays put on by Nobleboro children and the building hosted countless suppers and other community events, said former Nobleboro Grange Master Laurie McBurnie. Like most of the former Nobleboro Grange members, McBurnie is now a member of the Meenagha Grange.
Many in Nobleboro are sad to see the Grange Hall go, McBurnie said, but as a community center, “it doesn’t really make sense now that the school is right next door.”
The decision to sell the hall comes about nine months after the Nobleboro Grange stopped using the building when it merged with the Waldoboro-based Meenagha Grange.
The merger is indicative of a statewide trend towards declining Grange membership, said Meenagha Grange Secretary and 45-year State Grange Officer Ron Dolloff.
“We’re looking at the results of a far different set of priorities in people’s lives,” Dolloff said.
Statewide Grange membership was once around 60,000, Dolloff said. Now it’s down to about 5000.
The Nobleboro Grange was forced to merge or close their doors when attendance at their meetings dropped below the levels required by Grange law to meet quorum. In order to remain a legal chapter, a Grange must have regular attendance of at least seven members, McBurnie said.
“A lot of people have expressed how saddened they are by the Grange closing, but we could never get enough people to turn out,” McBurnie said. “You need more than one or two people to carry stewpots across the building to set up a public supper.”
The money from the sale will go to the Meenagha Grange, and that organization will also take some of the items from inside the hall – including the grand piano. The rest will either be sold to the public or given to other Grange Halls, McBurnie said.
