Turkey Hill Grange Hall

The Turkey Hill Grange Hall off of IL Rte. 15 E., built in 1937, is the third building used by Turkey Hill Grange #1370 and its third in this location. That chapter of the club was founded in 1874 with nineteen members and is the oldest chapter still active in St. Clair County. The organization's purpose is to assist and educate farmers as a cooperative. The building is still in use by the chapter and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. The one-story building of multi-hued red brick on a high basement has classical revival details. To cut costs during the Great Depression, many labor hours were donated by members during construction of the hall. The land became part of the Belleville city limits in 2000.

Nineteen members formed a local chapter of the Illinois Grange in 1874 in Belleville; the Turkey Hilll chapter (#1370) was charted on April 17th. By 1880, membership had grown to 117, and the group was too large to continue meeting in members' homes. Their first building was constructed in the 1880s, with a school on the first floor below the Grange hall; the Grange Hall School was the first public school in St. Clair County. A local woman, Elizabeth B. Meng, taught summer school at Turkey Hill Grange beginning in 1886 when she was only fourteen years old. Many children in farm families needed to catch up on their studies because they had missed so many days of school in the winter due to bad roads. The first class held 32 pupils. Elizabeth earned $32 a month for teaching the summer school. "Little Lizzie" later married a George H. Killian (born in 1872; died in 1935); Lizzie lived to 103 and passed away in 1975 at the St. Paul Home in Belleville. One of the groups that met at the Turkey Hill Grange Hall in 1890 was the Turkey Hill Bee-keepers' association.

There was a second Grange in Belleville by the early twentieth century, the High Prairie chapter (#1481). The Turkey Hill Grange Hall burned down in 1904 due to a stove fire and was promptly rebuilt. Master of the Turkey Hill Grange in 1916 was N.T. Miller. The club lost Fred Helms, a charter member, in 1916. The chapter's member ship dropped to around 60. The chapter raised enough funds in the late 1910s to pay off $600 of debt from building their second hall. During World War I, Turkey Hill members donated produce and livestock that was sold to benefit the Red Cross. The February 1918 sale netted $1,200 for the St. Clair County chapter of the charity.

The Turkey Hill Grange was recognized in the 1919 annual meeting of the State Grange of Illinois, held at the Elks' Hall in Belleville in December. E.S. Helms of the Turkey Hill chapter was among those recognized for presenting readings, solos, or instrumental music to the attendees. Turkey Hill's membership had grown the fastest in the state in the past year, with 44 new members, reported by Master A.O. Eckert; that gave them the right to display the Grange Banner for the next year. Turkey Hill had 123 members total, all of whom had paid their dues for 1919. The chapter held 21 regular and eight special meetings in 1919. Even though Turkey Hill gained 63 new members in 1920, they had to turn over the banner to Hollis Grange in Peoria County, who added 105 new members.

The Grange Literary Society was active at Turkey Hill in the early twentieth century, where the "leading topics of the day are ably discussed." According to a late 1910s report by E.S. Helms, the Turkey Hill's grange hall was one of the "best located and equipped Grange halls ever constructed, a two story building occupied by the public school on the lower floor and a Grange hall on the second floor." One of the Turkey Hill Grange's highlights of the year is the annual Wurstmarkt held in late October on the weekend closest to Halloween. Another longstanding tradition is an annual strawberry and ice cream social held outdoors on the lawn each June. The chapter also holds fundraising chicken dinners, bazaars, and Thanksgiving dinners.

The school moved out of the second building in 1936 to their own facility. The old grange hall was sold for parts and taken apart soon after the last meeting there in January 1937. Soon, the concrete foundation of the new building was poured, and construction began. The new building features a fellowship hall and large kitchen in the full basement. Above is the main hall and lounge. The building retains most of its original details and was added to the National Register for its significance in architecture and social history. An addition was built at the northwest corner of the building in 2003 to hold an elevator.

Braeutigam, S. Convention Notices. Gleanings in Bee Culture. September 1st, 1890. 655 - 655.

Burian, Susan Baldwin. NRHP Nomination of Turkey Hill Grange Hall, Belleville, Illinois. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 2016.

Illinois State Grange. Journal of Proceedings of the Annual Sessions of the Illinois State Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, 1911-1920. Vol. 40. Peoria, IL. Edward Hine & Co., 1921.

Interstate Commerce Commission. List of National, State, and Local Commercial Organizations ... and Agricultural Associations. Washington, DC. Government Printing Office, 1907.

Meng, James L. The Meng (1630) and Shamhart (1147) Family History and Genealogy in Duetschland and America. online, US. Xlibris US, 2012.

Turkey Hill Grange. Turkey Hill Grange, Facebook. Accessed November 28th, 2022. https://www.facebook.com/turkeyhillgrange/events.