Organizations
American Legion Post 604
Reorganized in 1947 with thirty charter members, this group recognizes the men and women who have served in the armed forces. In 1991, Post 604 dedicated a monument which lists the names of Arenzville residents who have served in the nation's major military conflicts. The American Legion Post 604 is a co-sponsor of the Arenzville Burgoo and maintains the town's Legion Hall. (see more below). Also, see the gallery of images of some of the town's veterans.
Legion Auxiliary
The American Legion Auxiliary of Arenzville supports the Arenzville Legion Post with fundraisers and social events, including the annual Veteran's Day dinner and Legion Birthday Party.
Community Club
The Community Club of Arenzville was organized in 1947, with approximately thirty charter members. Their purpose was the promotion of fellowship among the members and to foster the moral, social, business and recreational interests of the community. The Community Club has contributed to many projects for youth athletic programs, village services and permanent facilities. The Community Club is a co-sponsor of the Arenzville Burgoo.
Anti Thief Association
The Anti-Thief Association is one of the oldest organizations in Arenzville. Originally, the Anti-Horse Thief Association, it was first chartered in Clark County, Missouri in 1854, and over the next 50 years, chapters multiplied across the Midwest. At the beginning of the 20th century, the AHTA had more than 30,000 members nationwide. It is not certain what year the Arenzville chapter of the AHTA was chartered - the earliest newspaper reference I could find to the Arenzville AHTA was dated 1906 - but it is known that the Village has one of the few chapters in the nation which has remained active since its beginning.
The organization's purpose is similar to what we would recognize today as a Neighborhood Watch Committee. Illinois (and other states) passed laws which gave the AHTA authority to make arrests.
As described in the volume I of Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... (Standard Pub. Co. Chicago: 1912), "the Anti Horse Thief Association is in no sense a vigilance committee, and the organization has never found it necessary to adopt the mysterious methods of "Regulators," "White Caps" or kindred organizations. Its deeds are done in the broad open light of the day. When a theft or robbery is committed in any portion of the vast territory covered by the association and the direction taken by the offender is ascertained, local associations are notified to be on the lookout for the fugitive, and his capture is almost a certainty. Although the original name is retained, bankers, merchants and manufacturers are to be found among the members, courts recognize its value, criminals fear it, and press and pulpit have endorsed and praised its work in the apprehension of criminals."
The AHTA has been active in Arenzville for more than 100 years and has contributed to a number of community projects such as improvements to the village parks and purchase of uniforms and equipment for girls' and boys' sports teams. In 1926, "Horse" was removed from the organization's name, and it has since been known as the Anti-Thief Association or ATA.
The ATA is not only a co-sponsor of the annual Arenzville Burgoo, but they "rescued" the community tradition when others began to lose interest. When Arenzville's community burgoo tradition began to wane around 1900, the ATA stepped up and hosted the event, which for several years was known as the "ATA Picnic."
Cub Scouts Pack 137
Cub Scout Pack 137 serves the Triopia, Meredosia and Chambersburg communities. More information coming....
Arenzville Legion Post 604 and the Legion Hall
Appeal for Community Support to Build the Legion Hall
In 1947, when the recently reorganized American Legion Post 604 developed plans to build a permanent meeting hall, they asked for the support of community members. As a result of their dedication and the generous response from the community, the Legion post built the Legion Hall, which so far has served three generations as a site of meetings for town organizations, church dinners, dances, family gatherings, school classrooms, musical concerts, flower shows, dramatic performances and of course, the home of Legion Post 604. Shown below are the contents of the letters sent out to the community in 1947 to ask for donations to pay for the hall.
Arenzville American Legion Post 604
Arenzville, Illinois
May 12, 1947
To the citizens of Arenzville and the surrounding community:
Twice within twenty-five years the men and women of our country have been called upon to forge themselves into a team and take up arms in the defense of their country, its people, and its ideals. Both times they have seen their military task through to its finish at great cost in lives, time and money. But each time they have put the goals of war behind them only to find complex problems of readjustment and reform stretching ahead of them. Since these great teams have disbanded, many of their former members wish to maintain some sort of organization, not military, but democratic, in order that these new tasks, of equally great importance to the community, may be better accomplished.
The largest, and probably the most influential of such veterans’ organizations, the American Legion, dedicated to the service of our veterans and to the concepts for which they fought, is represented by a local chapter, which has as its further aim: service to the community.
Like many other local organizations, the Legion lacks access to suitable quarters for its meetings, and plans as one of its first major projects the construction of a Legion Home, which will not only house its activities but will be made available to any organization that is working in the public interest.
The plans provide for a building thirty feet by eighty feet in size, to be erected on a site already obtained by the Legion, located in the vicinity of the proposed site of the new water tower.
The main floor will be designed to accommodate meetings, programs, dances, etc. and there will be a basement with a kitchen equipped for serving suppers and banquets. The estimated cost is $7600, exclusive of furnishings.
In obtaining funds for this project, the Legion has been pledged the complete support of the Arenzville Community Club and hopes for the assistance of its other friends throughout the community. In giving such assistance, you will have the whole-hearted gratitude of your war veterans.
Yours sincerely,
Kenneth Hierman, Commander
The American Legion
Arenzville Community Club
Arenzville, Illinois
May 12, 1947
Dear Friend:
How good is your memory?
You remember the dark years of the war, when for many of us every trip to the postoffice was fruitless unless it brought one of those familiar letters, stamped “FREE” in one corner, with a military address written in the other. And you remember when every trip to the depot saw some soldier or sailor bidding another reluctant goodbye to Arenzville and wondering when he’d see it again.
You remember those telegrams, too. And the blue stars in all the windows and the uniforms on all the streets.
Of course, you remember those things, but do you also remember the things we said then? We said, “You boys are giving up a lot for your home folks … you’re losing several years out of your lives that might be better spent at your life work and with your own families … you’re losing opportunities in business and farming … you’re losing your health, some of you … some of you have lost your lives and you’ve risked losing them.”
Yes, we said that, and more. We said “We’re going to make it up to you, fellows, show you how much you mean to us and how much we appreciate the sacrifices you’re making so that we can keep living a free country. When you come back home we’ll be glad to see you and we’ll let you know it!”
Well, that’s what we told them, remember? We wrote that in our letters and we wrote it in the Town Tattler that the community of Arenzville sent the boys to keep them up on their home-town happenings. And we filed it away in our minds as an unwritten promise of a debt we owed.
And now we have a chance to prove just how much we meant all those promises. Our boys are back now, and most of them have organized into an American Legion post, together with their fellow veterans of World War I. They have big plans afoot to build a Legion Home, so they’ll have some place to hold their meetings. They’ve even offered to open it to other public-minded organizations when it is built. But they need help.
The Arenzville Community Club has decided, with not a single dissenting vote, as our minutes will show, to back them 100% in obtaining such help, and we want to invite you to join with us in giving full support to their current drive.
So when the Legion representative calls at your home or place of business, remember that our boys are back now, trying to forget all those things they lost, and they’re doing pretty well at picking up where they left off and going on. They want to forget all the army routine and discipline and drill and the uniforms and the goodbyes and the trip overseas and the D-days and H-hours and the buddies they lost and how they missed seeing their kids take their first steps. They want to forget a lot that happened during those years. Chances are they’d forget those promises we made them, too.
But we’re not going to. ARE WE?
Yours sincerely,
Edward Wessler, President
Arenzville Community Club
WHAT OTHERS SAY ---
“I will gladly do my part.”
- J.S. Batis
“We have done so little; they have done so much! This is our opportunity to prove our appreciation.”
- Nelson C. Chasteen
“All for one; one for all. Let’s help the Legion.”
- J.F. Thyen
“The entire community will benefit.”
- J. H. Janssen
“A good way to show our appreciation to the boys who fought for us all would be to help them with their project 100%.”
- Herman H. Wessler
“They did their best; now let’s do ours.”
- J.A. Weeks
“We must maintain, support and improve our home community.”
- “Ren” Burrus
“I am 100% behind our Legion.”
- Walter Huey
“For the services you have rendered to the flag that is still flying – to the Veterans – you MUST be remembered.”
- Conrad Hahling
“We must support the Legion just as we must expect they Legion to support and improve our home community.”
- Roy Burrus
“Let us redeem our promises!”
- Rev. G. A. Saatoff
“The boys were targets when they did their part. It will be perfectly safe to do ours. Support the Legion.”
- Audace Herzberger
