NORTH POWDER, Ore. — The story of the Wolf Creek Grange is one of community service, dances, fairs and a fire that ultimately may have benefited it.

The Grange celebrated its 100th year of operation on Oct. 24 at 215 E St. in North Powder.

The grange is one of the most vibrant in Northeastern Oregon. Its hall is a gathering place for a number of community events and activities and it has a stable membership of 20-25 men and women. The Wolf Creek Grange is an anomaly during a time when many granges have declining memberships and are closing.

The continuing strength of the grange reflects the dedication of its members to the grange and the community.

“It is an amazing group,” said Grange Master Carol Bouchard.

She said its members bring the community together in a manner that binds it in everlasting fashion.

“They help make this a village, not just a group of houses,” Bouchard said.

The Wolf Creek Grange hall is perhaps the most popular meeting place in North Powder. It is the site of exercise classes, weddings and city council meetings; the weekly distribution of fresh food and other items provided by the Fresh Food Alliance operated by Northeast Oregon Food Bank; and a Lunch Bunch program where lunches are served by the grange each Friday to the community. The rent paid by the groups involved in many of these events helps keep the Wolf Creek Grange on solid ground financially.

People are likely drawn to the spacious hall’s warm and inviting atmosphere because it is so well kept and well decorated. Another plus is that it is centrally located and easy to reach. The site is a far cry from its original location near Wolf Creek, eight miles northwest of North Powder, where it was destroyed by a fire in the early 1940s, Bouchard said.

The Wolf Creek Grange purchased its present hall in 1957, a building that previously housed a number of businesses, including a meat market and a mercantile store. If the grange had remained in the Wolf Creek Reservoir area instead of moving into North Powder, it might not be as popular a meeting place as it is today.

“People like to go to places that are convenient to get to,” Bouchard said.

The Wolf Creek Grange was the 596th chartered in Oregon but today it is one of only about 200 in the state.

Few of the state’s remaining granges likely are involved in more community services projects than the Wolf Creek Grange. They include a free medical equipment loan service program through which donated items, such as wheelchairs and walkers, are lent free of charge to anyone; college scholarships given annually to local youths; and a community dinner served each year the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Wynn Nielsen, a member of the Wolf Creek Grange, said the community work done by the grange is a reflection of the many wonderful people who live there.

“North Powder is just a special place,” he said.

People who visit the Grange can learn about its history, and the dances and fairs it once put on, by looking at scrapbooks and old photos and reading copies of North Powder’s old newspaper, The North Powder News, which was published at least into the 1930s. People reading copies of the 1930s editions of the old newspaper will learn that North Powder then had a gas station, Hutchinson Service Station, an auto repair shop, Newman and Keeney Garage, and a pharmacy, Ferguson’s Drug Store, which sold candy for 60 cents a pound.