A Brief History of Our Council
Written by Frances Sack
The Middletown Council of the Knights of Columbus began as a church club known as the “Young Men’s Society of the Holy Trinity School”. As the club grew, two of its members, C.B. Niederlander and Emmett A. Meehan, members of a K of C council in a neighboring city, suggested that Middletown should have a council of its own. A petition requesting the institution of a council in Middletown was submitted to the K of C Supreme Council and the charter was granted on March 10, 1912.
The first meeting of Middletown Council 1610 was held on Thursday, March 14, 1912 in the Holy Trinity School hall. The primary objective of this first meeting was the installation of the newly elected officers beginning with C.B. Niederlander as Grand Knight. Other officers installed were: Ed Kramer, William J. Miles, Albert S. Fenzel, Frank E. Daly, Harry Williams, Jr., John F. Galeese, Thomas Sullivan, Charles I. Christman, Jones Cahill, John D. Christ, Thomas J. Galeese, and John Auer. In charge of the installation was M.O. Burns, County Deputy, Knights of Columbus.
A few years after the founding of Middletown Council 1610, the membership outgrew the space it was using in Holy Trinity School and rented rooms for its headquarters on the third floor of the American Trust and Savings Building at the NE corner of Main and Central. After several degree installations and highly successful social events, the membership grew so much that a larger place was needed for the council activities. This was obtained when the purchase was made of the large house across the street from the St. John property on First Avenue.
It was the old Hugh Vail house, known as Hillcrest, and was purchased in late 1919 from the estate of William C. Crane, the last owner, after a very successful subscription drive by the council. On January 1, 1920 an open house was held for the public and in July 1921 the membership authorized the building of an auditorium complete with stage and scenery on the south end of the structure. This then became one of the largest and best equipped dance halls in the area.
For over 80 years this building served as the home and meeting hall for K of C Council 1610 and a great gathering place for many public and private functions for all of Middletown. Due to increased operating expenses and decreased revenue from social activities, bingo and rental of the auditorium, the building was reluctantly sold in 2001.
The first principle of the Order of Knights of Columbus is charity, and Council 1610 has a long and generous history of giving, physically as well as financially. But, in order to give financial aid you have to have funds to give and the K of C has used various ways to raise money for their philanthropic endeavors. An early fund raiser was a “Minstrel Show”, very popular at the time, organized and put on by the K of C members themselves. An entry from the minutes of a 1914 council meeting shows $200 income from the minstrels. In 1917 the K of C sponsored a baseball team and allocated funds to buy balls and shirts, but after each game they had to be returned to the council! During World War I our council donated over $1800 to the national K of C war fund.
At the August 1, 1923 meeting a motion was adopted that a Boy Scout committee be empowered to organize a troop to be under the auspices of the council. Thus began the K of C sponsorship of scouting that started with Troop 7 in 1924 and continues to this day with Troop 20 and Cub Pack 22. In the austere 30’s and the war years of the 40’s money was being raised by raffles, dances, dinners, the annual 4th of July Festival and other social events.
During World War II, the Knights held dances for men and women in the armed forces and time and money was generously given to the USO and the Red Cross. In the 50’s thru the late 90’s the principal revenue generator for the K of C was Bingo. The biggest share of this went to our church's schools to fund their athletic programs. In the years 1959-62 the K of C gave over $15,000 as well as a considerable amount of time and energy to help build Bishop Fenwick’s football stadium and to buy equipment for other sports.