Mount Baker School District to sell historic Hopewell Grange building 

EVERSON — Mount Baker School District is selling the Hopewell Grange building in Everson to fund needed maintenance and repairs. Those with ties to the small, yellow building hope the sale could mean a new chapter for the former gathering place of education and community.

Built in 1912, the building first housed schoolchildren, and then agricultural workers who came together through the fraternal organization Hopewell Grange. It’s been sitting empty for the last seven years, and the school district decided to sell after receiving inquiries from people looking to purchase it.

“We’re hoping to get a pretty good chunk of change to put in our Capital Projects Fund …” interim superintendent Phil Brockman said. “There really isn’t anything we can do with that property, because it’s just not big enough to do anything … If we can sell it to somebody that can do something with it, great, we’re all for that.”

Marv Fullner, a longtime resident of the Nooksack Valley and local historian, said he hopes whoever buys it restores the building.

“Of us that have been there, my kids, anybody I’ve talked to … it would cost money, but they would love to have it restored,” he said. “That would be my ultimate.”

‘Nucleus of the community’

In the Everson library on a recent Monday morning, Fullner, 79, arrived with a cardboard box of binders. All were chock-full of old pictures, meeting minutes and records of the Hopewell School and the Hopewell Grange — the two organizations that were based in the building now up for sale.

Fullner, whose interest in local history was piqued when he learned about his own family’s roots in Whatcom County, spent months compiling historical documents related to the building.

Fullner’s father attended the Hopewell Schoolhouse starting in 1921. The building that today stands at 3441 Hopewell Road was built in 1912 to house the school. Fullner said the school taught kids from kindergarten through eighth grade.

But in the early ’40s, the school became the property of the Mount Baker School District and closed. Soon after, the Hopewell Grange began using the space. For 74 years, grange members used the space as a community center, connecting farmers and families in the small building.

The Hopewell Grange #518 was founded around 1912, although Fullner has found some records that go even further back. In 1867, the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry was founded to connect farmers and their families, and provide space for farmers to discuss politics and legislation related to agriculture. Once, there were more than 50 granges in Whatcom County. Today, six are left: two in Bellingham, two in Lynden, one in Blaine and one on Lummi Island.

The original intention of the Hopewell Grange was to provide area farmers with assistance and a support network for farm families, according to a 2016 Ferndale Record Pioneering Families of Whatcom County issue.

For members involved at the end, it’s remembered as a community center more than anything.

Frances Westergreen, a 55-year member of the Hopewell Grange, said in a 2017 video that the grange building was used for weddings, memorial services, music events and as a gathering place for homeschooling students and families. 

Harlene Elenbaas, a longtime member of the grange and a member when it disbanded, said in the video it was a great place to connect with other homeschooling parents.  

But in line with national grange trends, membership declined over the years. Elenbaas said in the video that grange members were always talking about how to pass on interest to the next generation. 

“We held on as long as we could,” she said. In 2017, the grange closed for good. 

Fullner, who was never a member himself, told CDN he couldn’t believe it when it closed.

“The Grange [closing] was kind of like the end of the community nucleus — there was no other venue.” 

But all his memories of the grange are fond. 

“The memory that I have is extremely, totally, dedicated people,” he said. “They were members of the grange, they were all in. They did so many things for the community. They didn’t question it, they just did it because they wanted to and they cared.” 

Elenbaas said in the video that after the grange had formally closed, three longtime members wanted to reminisce one more time at the grange and met up for one last dinner in the old schoolhouse. 

“All three of us brought food … and we just sat there and had one last little meal together and it was just kind of sad,” Elenbaas said. “We were sorry that it was closing but we also recognized that other things had taken the place of the grange.”  

A new beginning? 

It’s been seven years since the Hopewell Grange closed. The building reverted to school district ownership officially in 2019, Tom Larsen, director of maintenance and water distribution at the district, said in an email.  

It’s sat unused since then.  Brockman said the district doesn’t have use for the property, nor the funds to restore it. 

“My hope would be that whoever buys it does something really nice with this property,” he said. 

The assessed market value of the property is $394,981. Bids are due to the school district at 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 21. 

Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.