The year was 1962. The world was brought to the brink of war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In Mississippi, a young student named James Meredith attempted to enroll in classes at the University of Mississippi. When rioting broke out, federal troops were brought in to take control. On the lighter side, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, a band named The Beatles became all the rage, and Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday to our president, John F. Kennedy. It was also the same year that Sam Brantner, Lester Pickens, and Mary Teague registered the Logsden Community Club as an official nonprofit agency with the State of Oregon!
Back in those days, Club members met in an old schoolhouse located on the corner of Logsden Road and Moonshine Park Road (then Upper Farm Road) where the firehouse stands today. Eventually the schoolhouse was framed up, placed on beams, loaded onto wagons, and pulled across the road by horses to where our facility now stands. By the late 1980s, the old schoolhouse had seen better days. The support timbers were rotting and the floor was so badly slanted that one corner was about a foot lower than the others. Hornets had made themselves a home inside the building and rats were constantly being trapped and removed from the attic. The decision was made to have the building inspected for safety and the consensus was that it needed to be burned to the ground.
She had red hair, a long ponytail, and the biggest smile you had ever seen. Her name was Irene Anderson, but everyone called her “Rennie.” Rennie and her husband Bob were strong supporters of the Club and the kind of folks that every small community needs. As the story goes, one day Bob Anderson asked Bobby Llewellyn, the Club president at the time, to stop by his house. Bob asked him how much money the Club had in their bank account. Back in those days, the Logsden Ladies Club raised most of the money and the total was somewhere around $13,500. Bob took out his checkbook and wrote a check right then and there for that exact amount. With a sense of pride in his community and a spring in his step, Bobby walked into the bank on Toledo’s Main Street and deposited the check into the Club’s account.
Thanks to the generosity of the Andersons, the building project for the new Club began. Harold Lofton designed the building with some coaching from Norm Ferber and with assistance from his new computer and AutoCad software. Norm was a contractor and he and his crew did most of the building, with Club members helping with painting and other tasks. The building was finished in 1992 and is still there today. The current facility is named in Rennie Anderson’s honor with a sign, carved by Bobby Llewellyn, above the door.
The old schoolhouse and the new Club facility have always been the main gathering point for the Logsden community. All kinds of gatherings – potlucks, dances, birthday parties, and weddings – have taken place on these grounds. For many years, an annual Harvest Auction has been held as the major fundraiser for the Club. Besides being a place for social gatherings, the Logsden Community Club has also played a major role in community development. Club member Mac Zirges was concerned about the lack of fire safety for the area and wrote a grant on behalf of the Club. The grant was funded and a firehall was built. In 1984 the mill town of Valsetz was shut down and Boise Cascade donated their fire engine to the Club. But, this all-volunteer Logsden Fire Department was short-lived. The insurance cost to operate a fire department was far beyond the means of the Club, so in 1987, members of the Club approached the Siletz Valley Rural Fire Protection District (SVRFPD) to take over operations. That same year, the Logsden area was annexed into the District. Today, thanks to the work of Club member Gerry Schmit, Logsden has been recognized as a member of the Firewise Communities/USA Program, with oversight now under the wing of the SVRFPD.
Years passed and the Club remained active. Unfortunately, the water source for the Club came from a very, very small reservoir on the hill across the road. In the summer months, water was scarce and the septic system was not exactly “county approved”. In the early 2000s, an event called LogJam was held to help raise funds for the needed improvements. LogJam was part music festival, part outdoor carnival, and part farmer’s market. Club member Guy Faust, our current President, helped organize the event. After four years of fundraising from LogJam, Club members were able to write and leverage a number of grants and make many needed improvements to the facility. A well was dug, a pumphouse was built, a septic system and drain field were installed, and an outside deck was added to the building. Indoor improvements included a commercial kitchen and new floor. In the mid-2000s, when the old Logsden bridge was torn down and the new bridge was being built, the Logsden Community Club grounds were used as the staging area. Building materials for the new bridge covered the front lawn. It was at that time when LogJam came to an end.
In 2009, the Logsden Community Club became an officially designated as a 501(c) nonprofit charitable organization by the IRS. As the years went by and our facility started to show its age, improvements needed to be made again. With the help of grants from the Siletz Tribe, Consumer Power, and some flow-through funds from the Siletz Fire District, the Club was able to install a new insulated floor and a ductless heater, make ADA improvements to the facility, purchase a new stove, and upgrade our kitchen. Also, the Club can now boast being an official Red Cross Receiving Center.
As with the rest of the country, COVID-19 hit the Club hard at the beginning of 2020 and through much of 2021. All potlucks and fundraising events were cancelled. By 2022, our membership had dropped to 20 members and building back the Club became a top priority. That summer, we held a Bluegrass Picnic fundraiser, with Banjo Bobby Llewellyn and Friends (over a dozen musicians) entertaining the audience for the afternoon. We had games for the kids, burgers and hot dogs from the grill, a silent auction and raffle! A good time was had by all! That fall, we were able to hold our annual Harvest Auction. These events raised more funds to build up the Club’s bank account, which had suffered during the pandemic. At our December Christmas party at the end of 2022, we announced that the Club was able to donate $1,000 to local charities, matching donations in previous years, and that our membership had grown to 50 families. Things were starting to get back to normal by 2023!
Last year, we made improvements to the Club to bring it up to State Fire Code, installed an ultra-violet (UV) system in our pump house to purify our water system, created our website, and finally got internet service! In addition to holding our annual Bluegrass Picnic and Harvest Auction fundraisers, we were also busy writing grants and managed to secure funds from CPI, Lincoln County’s Emergency Preparedness Matching Grant Fund, and the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund to help make additional improvements to our facility.
We look forward to building our Club’s membership and making more services available to the Logsden community in 2024 and beyond! Please join us!
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The purpose of the Logsden Community Club is to build and maintain a sense of community in the greater Logsden area. Through various means of communications, social events, educational seminars, recreational activities, current-event forums, our charitable nonpolitical Club will work to foster a welcoming, friendly, and safe community atmosphere.