Agenda - 02-04-20 4-a - National Register Approval for Cedar Grove School and the Schley Grange Hall

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4 Attachment 2 : Schley Grange Hall NPS Farm 10-900-a OMB Approval No.1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 8 Schley Grange Hall Orange County,NC Section 8. Statement of Significance Built in 1949,the locally significant Schley Grange Hall meets National Register of Historic Places Criterion A for social history as the Orange County agricultural community of Schley's primary meeting place and recreational center. The building is the only dedicated Grange hall identified in the county's up-to-date comprehensive architectural survey and thus is recognized as the only extant historic example of this resource type retaining integrity to survive in Orange County. Schley Grange No. 710 has been the area's largest fraternal association since its 1931 creation at the height of the North Carolina Grange's twentieth-century revitalization. Subsidized by a$50,000 national community service award from Sears- Roebuck Foundation, Schley Grange Hall replaced the decommissioned frame public school where the group had previously gathered. Grange members successfully executed five initiatives to win the competition, garnering a fully equipped building that quickly became the community's social hub. The Grange hosted educational and recreational events and encouraged the agricultural extension service, healthcare providers, American Legion Post 452,and the community at large to do the same. Facilities including a concession building/cook house, baseball/softball field, and horseshoe pitching pits were added by 1960 and supplemented through the early-twenty-first-century with a picnic shelter,restroom building, and batting cage. The period of significance begins with the Grange hall's 1949 completion and continues through 1970. The building's function after 1970 is not of exceptional significance. Historical Background and Social History Context The small crossroads community three miles north of Hillsborough became known as Schley when the U. S. government initiated postal service in 1898. Residents received and posted mail at Charles Wilson and David S. Miller's general store. Miller was Schley's sole postmaster from August 22, 1898 until postal service was discontinued on June 15, 1907. According to oral tradition,he suggested the post office name to honor Spanish American War hero Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley,whose achievements had recently been celebrated during a national tour. The district's weatherboarded public school, formerly known as McKee School,was renamed Schley School in conjunction with the post office opening. The close-knit community primarily comprised farmers. Neighbors aided each other with farm operation and building construction and gathered for social activities and worship services.1() The Grange(officially the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry), a fraternal organization created in 1867, provided a mechanism for farmers to improve their economic and social position through community-based initiatives and to advocate for agricultural regulation. The association, 10 Schley School stood on Schley Road's east side in what is now the parking lot north of Schley Grange Hall. North Carolina Postal History Society,"Orange County,"postmark and postmaster compilation,April 20,2014,p.62; http://www.ncpostalhistory.com/resources/north-carolina-postmark-catalog-update/(accessed August 2018);"Building Received by Grange,"News and Observer(Raleigh),December 7, 1949,p.2;Natalie Sicuro and George Seymour Maisel, "Schley 1958:the story of a community and its people,"LTNC-Chapel Hill,May 1958.