Clubs & Organizations

This text has been summarized or excerpted from the Verdigre Centennial Book

The Verdigre Improvement Club, established in 1945, was the latest and by far the longest-lived service club organization in the history of the Village of Verdigre. No specific reference is made to this type of club in the 1890s, but as the time, a communities established Commercial Club functioned similarly to those of later clubs. Verdigre organized their own Commercial Club in 1912, establishing the roots of the Verdigre Improvement Club and others.

The Verdigre Commercial Club was much concerned with the state of the streets and public roads. As the name would indicate, it’s members were drawn from the commercial interests of the town and were naturally concerned that adequate farm to market roads exist in their trade area. On more than one occasion, members of the club hauled loads of gravel and other road materials ut to some offending stretch of highway and improved with themselves. In reading the newspaper of the times, one gets the impression that civic improvements, such as the development of municipal power, water, sanitary, and storm sewer systems, were only undertaken at the prodding of the Commercial Club and its successors, whose members contributed money and time to such causes.

A club which enrolls a considerable portion of the town’s business community is apt to have factions, and much of the history of these early clubs reflects this process. From 1918 to 1934, Verdigre’s Community Club changed multiple times. In each case, the current club felt inactive, apparently after arguments as to what improvements were sought or how much money was being spent on each. At one point, the local club was an affiliate of the Lions Club International, but this club, too, was disbanded, because its members did not want to see a portion of their dues sent out of town.

Reconstituted and officially founded in 1946, the Verdigre Improvement Club slowly became more sharply defined. Structurally, the club went through many changes. In the seventies, it was decided to appoint standing committees, on which all members served, and whose chairmen reported regularly at meetings. In the eighties, the club sought members from the larger community. The club was still a social organization; its members met monthly at a dinner meeting and held a picnic in August and a Christmas dinner-party for the families of members, but the club’s primary responsibility was organizing the annual Kolach Day celebration. The club took on smaller roles as well. The Improvement Club was also responsible for Sant Claus’ annual December visit, and the Chairman would appoint the chairman of the Centennial Committee. If needed, the club might also occasionally contribute money for light bulbs to keep the “Verdigre” sign burning on the hill, or to make improvements in the parks.

A spinoff of the Improvement Club was the Verdigre Development Corporation, which began as a committee of the club in 1970. It became a separate organization whose major purpose is the economic development of the community.