0066 Granby Road, Granville, Massachusetts, Barn Collapse 1952
Collapse of Ralph Hiers' barn located at 66 Granby Road, Granville, MA. <br /><br />The barn still standing in the photo is the current home of Cooley & Co., open seasonally, with arts, crafts and other goods produced by local artisans.<br /><br />This image was posted on the Granville-Tolland Community page (Facebook) on March 22, 2024. The following additional information about the collapse was provided:<br /><br />CB: "<span>Wow I never knew there was a building there. A little before my time. My Aunt says it was the horse barn but doesn't remember what happened to it. The silo you can see in the picture, the overhang over what is now the deck area and part of the front of the barn all came down in the blizzard of 78'. We didn't rebuild the silo since no cows where still there. Mr. Woodard had move his herd to thier farm by then."<br /><br />CB: "A little digging ang the mystery has been solved! My aunt,and 2 cousins all were able to piece the picture together. The barn was actually a tobacco barn leased by one of the farms in Southwick to house broad leaf. It went down and was witnessed going down by May Nobbs and her sister when a tornado hit Granville the summer of 52'. Her dad Stub Hunt wanted the roof saved so she and her sister Ethel Brown spent much of the summer collecting and stacking the remains. 3 years later the hurricane of 55' flooded the meadow and barn to the 2nd floor where the hay was stored."<br /><br />KL: "Grandpa Trygve Petersen stored his boat in the new barn one year when he was working on it."<br /><br />DAB: "Trygve was so friendly and positive to all; a wonderful man."<br /><br />Sincere thanks to all who contributed to the recollection of Granville's people and history!</span>
1952
Mabel Root Henry Historical Museum and the Noble & Cooley Center for Historic Preservation
The Jolly Eight, 1923
In 1923 Granville brothers Herb and Ralph Hiers were part of a group known as "The Jolly Eight" who crossed the United States in their automobiles.<br />The chronicles of the group were recorded in a book which was published under the title, "The Jolly Eight."<br />This photo shows the group at the Grand Canyon on June 20, 1923.
20 June 1923
Digital Image: Noble & Cooley Center for Historic Preservation, 2022
Granby Road 0174, Granville, Massachusetts
174 Granby Road, Granville, Massachusetts. Built by Ralph G. Hiers.
Photo by Herbert Hiers, Summer 1941
The home of Carl Beeman in 1941.
1941
Digital Image: NCCHP and the Granville Library Historical Room, 2021
Union Church Proposal, 1903-1907
Two letters proposing that the Granville churches form a "Union Church." The 1903 letter is from David Lyman Kibbe, pastor or the Congregational Church on the hill. The 1906 letter is from Edgar Alonzo Brownell of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which at the time was meeting in the old Universalist Church building.
The 1903 Kibbe letter refers to the Baptist, Methodist and Congregational churches, while the 1906 Brownell letter refers only to the Congregational and Baptist churches.
The third letter is dated 1907 and comments that "the outlook for consolidating of the two churches is rather remote."
There is no evidence that a Union Church was ever formed and there is no reference to this proposal in Wilson's "History of Granville."
The basic issue raised by the pastors in 1903 seems to have continued, with the Methodist church ceasing activity in 1922. In 1937 the need to have a few strong churches rather than more weak churches resulted in the formation of the Federated Church, when the First Church of Christ Congregational (the church on the hill) pooled resources with the Granville Baptist Church.
Neither Edgar Brownell (1875 - 1908) nor David Kebbe (1863 - 1933) lived to see the day when their proposal, made over 30 years earlier, would come to fruition.
1903
1906
The Noble & Cooley Center for Historic Preservation
Digital images copyright 2019, the Noble & Cooley Center for Historic Preservation
Granby Road, The Mill in the Meadow, Built 1976
The Mill in the Meadow was constructed in 1976 by Ralph Hiers, assisted by his grandson Matt Jones. <br /><br />Ralph was quite an expert in old mill sites in the Granville area. You can listen to him speak on that and other Granville history topics at <a href="https://historicalroom.omeka.net/items/show/653">THIS LINK</a>. <br /><br />The Mill in the Meadow is one of Granville's most photographed scenes. The main photo shown here is copyrighted and was taken by J.G. Coleman Photography and is used with permission, courtesy of the photographer. You can order a print of this image and thousands of others by contacting the photographer via his web site at <a href="https://www.jgcoleman.com/photography-blog/hiers-dream-mill-in-the-meadow-granville">THIS LINK</a>.<br /><br />The second photo was taken by Paul Jensen on April 9, 2000 and is used here courtesy of the photographer.<br /><br />The third photo was taken by Danny Nason and is used here with the permission of the photographer. <a href="https://dannynason.com/">https://dannynason.com/</a><br /><br />Ralph Hiers also built a scale model version of the Mill In The Meadow, complete with working waterwheel, as shown in the additional pictures. The model is on display at the Noble & Cooley Center for Historic Preservation.<br /><br />The next photo was taken on May 13, 2020, copyright Kris Bannish LeFebvre and is displayed here with permission.<br /><br />The aerial photo was taken 27 Dec 2020 by Jason Guigere of <a href="https://gigueresphotography.com/">Giguere's Photography</a> (see "Rights" below) and is shown here with permission..
1976
Scale model loaned for digitizing by the Noble & Cooley Center for Historic Preservation.
Photo 1: Copyright 2016, J.G. Coleman Photography. Used here with permission. May not be downloaded. Contact J.G. Coleman Photography at <a href="https://www.jgcoleman.com/photography-blog/hiers-dream-mill-in-the-meadow-granville">THIS LINK</a> if you wish to use the image.<br /><br />Photo 2: Copyright Paul Jensen, used here with permission. May not be used further without the permission of the photographer.<br /><br />Photo 3: Copyright Danny Nason, used here with permission. May not be used further without the permission of the photographer. <a href="https://dannynason.com/">https://dannynason.com/</a><br /><br />Aerial Photo: Copyright 2020, Giguere's Photography. Used here with permission. May not be downloaded or used further without the consent of <a href="https://gigueresphotography.com/">Giguere's Photography</a>.
Granville Baseball Team, 1919
The Granville baseball team, 1919. Names on reverse of photo.<br /><br />An earlier photo of the team is at <a href="https://historicalroom.omeka.net/items/show/722">THIS LINK</a>.
1919 (based on an identical print of the photo in the Aldrich family photo collection)
Digital Image: Granville Public Library Historical Room
Noble & Cooley Truck with Drums
Truckload of drums packed in cardboard crates, about to be driven to the point of shipping (typically by rail).
Shown in the picture, left to right: Ralph and Avola Hiers, and Dolly and Frances R. "Stub" Hunt.
Unknown
Image contributed by May (Hunt) Nobbs, 2018.
Granville Public Library Historical Room