The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
Vernonia Study Club
When the population of Vernonia increased
dramatically in the early 1920s with the opening of
the mill, many fraternal, social and service clubs were
established that brought people together for friendship
and to help the community. Several lodges with their
men’s and women’s sub-groups, the Vernonia and Na-
tal Granges where membership was open to men and
women equally, and special interest groups attracted lo-
cal members. One such service club was the Vernonia
Study Club, founded in 1925.
I recently visited Faith Reynolds, a nine decade
member of the community who will be 99 years young
next month, at her retirement home in Beaverton. She
presented the museum with a history of the Vernonia
Study Club compiled in 1991 by member Maude Wells
from minutes of the club from 1925-1973. The club
limited its membership to eighteen, and only when
someone moved away or resigned were others added
to fill those vacancies. The club was organized for the
purpose of “self-improvement and civic betterment.”
Most of their regular meetings had a business compo-
nent followed by a program of study. Occasionally, if
a guest speaker offered a topic of general interest to
the community, the public was invited, and once a year
a special meeting welcomed husbands and friends of
members.
Programs included book reports and studies
of topics such as drama, music, government, geogra-
phy, world travel, and the arts. The “civic betterment”
portion of the club’s mission began with offering cash
prizes to local students for birdhouse building (for the
boys) or window box displays (for the girls.) In an-
other project, the PTA and the Study Club asked the
City Council to form a city park and cooperated with
the council to raise the necessary funds. Other accom-
plishments of the Study Club during the 1920s includ-
ed raising funds for the City Library, book drives and
sponsoring a Garden Club.
In the late 1920s, the club asked the Vernonia
City Council to clean up vacant lots and wash windows
in vacant downtown buildings. The council refused,
so the ladies went to the Chamber of Commerce, a
men’s organization in those days, to ask for help that
the Chamber gladly gave. Similar to the work done
in later years by Vernonia Pride, the Study Club spon-
sored clean-up and fix-up days and asked the council in
1940 to establish garbage service in the city.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the
club asked the American Legion to help organize a Ver-
nonia Community Chest to help needy families. The
club raised funds that they turned over to the Commu-
nity Chest; a Study Club member was also a member
of that board. When the first Legion Hall collapsed in
1969, Study Club spearheaded a community drive to
build another hall.
The club raised money for the first Scout Cabin
and donated a framed picture and three flowering trees
for the new Washington Grade School in 1930. That
same year, the members asked the school board to hire
an art and music teacher. By 1936, the problems of
the needy in the community overwhelmed all other
causes. They raised funds to provide one especially
desperate family milk for a whole year, paid for badly
needed dental work for a high school girl and bought
a dress for another girl who could not have otherwise
attended graduation. Food and clothing were given to
other families in temporary need including Christmas
dinners for twenty or more families. Until the 1990s
when Vernonia Cares and the Vernonia Senior Center
took over some of these activities, the Study Club con-
tinued its dedicated community service. When they
found that Doernbecher Hospital wouldn’t take Verno-
nia’s children because the town had never contributed
to the hospital, the Study Club took up a donation so
that local youth would be served there.
During World War II, the Study Club took on
fundraising for the Red Cross, rolled bandages and held
War Bond drives. They sponsored the Girl Scouts for
several years and took part in collecting donations for
in other words
what is now called disaster relief. The support of the
Vernonia Public Library was a focus of the club from
its founding, and the members attended City Council
meetings en masse to forestall any cuts to the library
budget. At the same time, book drives and silver teas
held during Library Week added books to the collec-
tion.
By 1991 when this history was written, club
membership had declined and many of the activities
formerly done by Study Club members were being
handled by other organizations or public entities. The
club continued to support the library and the food bank,
however, and held regular but less frequent meetings
until 2011. With so many of the long-time members
moving away or passing, the club has been on hiatus,
but what a marvelous impact this group has had on the
history of Vernonia.
From Virgil Powell’s Diary
Virgil Powell was a long-time resident who
had a farm in the Upper Nehalem Valley between Natal
and Pittsburg. Each year from 1906 until 1955, he kept
a regular diary of his activities. With lambing season in
full swing now with some of our local 4-H families, it’s
interesting to look back at the scope of livestock man-
agement that was such an important part of the early
residents’ lives one hundred years ago.
Wednesday, April 1, 1914:
Took Pet up to the bull at Tuck-
ers. Went on over and got the
mail. Got home 3 P.M. Pretty
fair all day.
Thursday, April 2: Left 5 A.M
for Clatskanie. Got out there 9
A.M. Went up and bought 42
head of sheep and drove them
out to foot of mountain. Got 29
head old sheep and 13 lambs for
$190. Went back to Clatskanie
and stayed overnight.
Rained
considerable in evening.
Friday, April 3: Left Clats-
kanie 7 A.M. and drove the sheep
over as far as Johnsons. Got
home 5:45. Pretty good day.
Saturday, April 4: Went down
to Johnsons and brought the
sheep on up. Got here 3:15 P.M.
Went down in the wagon. Went
up to Vernonia in the evening to
the big show given by the Mist
people. Very good time. Got
home 1 A.M.
Vernonia
Veterinary Clinic
Small and Large Animals
Now Open
Mon, Wed & Saturday
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Call for Appointments
(503) 429-1612
Or 24 hr. Emergency Number (503) 397-6470
700 Weed Ave. Vernonia, OR
march20
2014
7
Thursday, April 9: Rained awful hard
most all day. Took the cattle and sheep up
to Pittsburg pasture. Edwin brought his
colts down.
Saturday, April 11: Went up as far as
Vernonia with Edwin & Ben. Got back home
1:45 P.M. Rode Babe up. Rained consider-
able most all day. Went up to Pittsburg in
afternoon and cut the lambs.
The Vernonia Pioneer Museum is located at E. 511
Bridge Street and is open from 1 to 4 pm on Saturdays
and Sundays (excluding holidays) all year. From June
through mid-September, the museum is also open on
Fridays from 1 – 4 pm. There is no charge for admis-
sion but donations are always welcome. Become a
member of the museum for an annual $5 fee to receive
the periodic newsletter, and if you are a Facebook user,
check out the new Vernonia Pioneer Museum page cre-
ated by Bill Langmaid. The museum volunteers are
always pleased to enlist additional volunteers to help
hold the museum open and assist in other ways. Please
stop by and let one of the volunteers know of your inter-
est in helping out.
