East Oswego Farmers Club Records

The East Oswego Farmers Club was organized in the spring of 1919 by a group of Kendall County farm families.  The club’s first officers included: Oscar Shoger, President; N. L. Pearce, Vice-President; A. Burkhart, Secretary; E. T. Pearce, Treasurer.  A constitution was approved in April 1919 and outlined the original purposes of club members; to improve soil fertility, livestock breeding, farmstead buildings, home life, and community life.  Monthly meetings were held at members’ homes until the 1930's and included a program of entertainment, discussion, and a business meeting.  Guest speakers, often experts in their field, focused on rural concerns such as good roads, soil improvement, agricultural cooperatives as well as more general topics usually reflecting current events.   During its early years the East Oswego Farmers’ Club often met with other farmers’ clubs for picnics, musical programs, and athletic events.  Membership fluctuated between 20 and 30 families until the end of World War II when membership gradually declined, due partly to changes in farm ownership and members’ children moving from the area.  By the time the club decided to disband it had become primarily a social group.  In addition, the Farm Bureau had become the most powerful farmers’ organization in Illinois and Kendall County.  At its February 1959 meeting club members voted 23-4 to disband.  The final meeting of the East Oswego Farmers’ Club was held at the Church of the Good Shepherd on March 19, 1959.

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