How does Niwot work? – Part 7

Left Hand Grange No. 9 is the oldest institution in Niwot, and the oldest active Grange in Colorado, organized Dec. 20, 1873 and chartered in 1874, before Colorado was even a state..Since then the Grange has evolved from an agrarian organization serving a largely agriculture-based community, to a town center which continues to support the semi-rural character of the community and the values that have sustained the organization for over a century.

The Grange building at the southwest corner of Second Avenue and Franklin Street was built in 1907 by John Nelson for use as a general store, and the upstairs room served as the Left Hand Grange meeting hall for many years before the Grange acquired the building from Nelson's estate in 1945. At that time, the Left Hand Grange was officially incorporated on April 23, 1945, when Jesse Hornbaker, Inez Johnson, Philip Haass, Artie Reeve, David Johnson and Forest Johnson filed with the Colorado Secretary of State.

Ever since then, the building has been a community center, used by many non-profit organizations as a meeting place, concert hall, lecture auditorium, reception hall, ceremonial venue, church and community kitchen. The list of users and uses since IBM built a plant a mile away in the late 1960s is astonishing, including Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, square dances, the Niwot Volunteer Fire Department, Niwot Youth Sports, Niwot High Baseball, weddings, funerals, seminars, art shows, silent auctions, used book sales, medical device loan closet, plant sales, knitting clubs, chili suppers, holiday fairs, craft shows, psychic conferences, bridge clubs, Boulder County meetings, beekeeper meetings and dance schools.

The Grange recently became a sponsor of a new Boy Scout troop for girls, and also sponsors the Niwot Community Semi-Marching Free Grange Band, a reincarnation of the Niwot Military Band that used the Grange Hall in the early 1900s.

As a musical venue, the Grange Hall also served as the launching pad of renowned bluegrass band Hot Rize in 1978, featuring Niwot resident Pete Wernick. The band's alter ego, Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, produced an album that features a photo of the Grange building in the background. Since then hundreds of local musicians have performed at the Grange, which hosted the Willowdale Live art and music series, which has attracted nationally known musicians. "That was a lot of fun," Grange treasurer Jim Dorvee said of the program that hopes to return later this year. Bruce Johnson, who serves as secretary of the Grange, also organized an open-stage night known as Music From the Grange, which continued virtually even through the pandemic.

Although the pandemic has recently curtailed many uses of the building, loosening restrictions will soon see the Grange Hall become a community hub again. The Niwot Historical Society has held its popular Then & Now series of lectures at the Grange, which often drew over 100 people before COVID-19. The Grange has also allowed the Niwot Historical Society to move the Old Firehouse Museum to the Grange property, which is open during community events to display historic artifacts.

From 1968 to 1982, the Grange property also housed the fire engines for the Niwot Volunteer Fire Department. That building, south of the Grange Hall, now serves as a storage area for the Grange and other non-profit community groups, including the Niwot Community Association and the Niwot Cultural Arts Association.

Left Hand Grange No. 9 is chartered by the National Grange and the Colorado State Grange, which describes its purpose as "dedicated to improving the economic well-being and quality of life of the American Agriculture producer and his urban neighbors."

The Grange is a membership organization, with dues currently set at $50 per year. Treasurer Jim Dorvee reports that the grange currently has around 40 members.

Though the current membership is small, with hall rentals supporting most of the maintenance costs of the building, a major renovation was completed in 2009, spearheaded by the late Dorinda Dembroski, who worked with the late architect-builder Robert Parich. The Grange and community supporters raised over $250,000 for the project, which resulted in a Historic Building Preservation Award from Boulder County in 2010.

Membership applications are available at http://www.lefthandgrange.org, and rentals can also be booked online. Donations can also be made online to help offset the Grange's loss of rental revenue. "People have been very generous," Dorvee said.

The Grange recently changed its policy to allow limited alcohol consumption in the Grange Hall for events such as receptions and social gatherings. "People are lining up for September," Dorvee said of recent rental inquiries.

In addition to Dorvee and Johnson, other officers of the Grange include Kellie Beran, president, Robert Roane, vice-president, and Kathy Koehler, who serves on the Executive Committee with Beran and Dorvee.