Henry+Club

The Henry Club was organized by Mrs. Henry P. Loomis of Tuxedo in the memory of her son, Henry, who died young. The Henry Club was organized in March, 1914. The building was built in 1911 and The Henry Club was located in the Union Hall. In January 1915 the club already had an adult membership of 150 people. Everyone was allowed to join. It did not matter if they were old or young, male or female, or their nationality or religion. The membership cost 10 cents a month! With the membership the person could use the club from 12:00pm to 10:30pm. The club was open until 11:30pm on Saturdays. The Henry Club began as a social club for the villagers in the Sloatsburg area. The club rented the old “Association Hall” for three years. The Henry Club hall had many improvements done. On the first floor there was a room for the janitor, a ladies’ sitting room, a men’s reading room, a kitchen, a pool room and a card room. The first floor had a library with 1000 books! The second floor had an auditorium that could sit 250 people. It also had a stage and 2 dressing rooms. The auditorium could be used for a gym. The third floor was used by other groups. In the back of the building the club had land for basketball, volleyball, and other outside games. The back piece of land had 2-4 tennis courts. Over the years the Henry Club had performances since it has a stage. The club was a place to play sports, watch entertainment, and a place to meet and talk. It had public activities held there to help the Village of Sloatsburg, such as the Boy Scouts, the Campfire Girls of Sloatsburg and the Daughters of America. The Henry Club was first known as a social club, but many organizations used the club for different activities over the years. The 1922 class graduation was held on Monday, June 26th at the Henry Club Auditorium. Many graduations after that were held there. On November 27, 1923 the first Fire Department meeting was held in the club auditorium. The Ladies Auxiliary of the Fire Department held their first food sale at The Henry Club and made $27.00. This was quite a bit of money for that time! Catholic religious services were held there until the St. Joan of Arc Church was finished in 1924. The Sloatsburg Dramatic Club started in 1932 and rented the second floor of The Henry Club. They performed 3-4 shows a year. As I wrote earlier, the second floor had a stage and dressing rooms for this type of entertainment. In 1940, The Town Hall and Village Clerk Office rented the space above the hardware store. They rented this space until they were able to purchase and build their own building. On the school field trip, Mr. Harrison Bush told me that today the space which was The Henry Club, is being used for storage. I was surprised to hear that the space was being used for storage. The idea of having a social club in Sloatsburg is awesome. When The Henry Club opened in 1914, I bet the villagers of Sloatsburg were excited. There probably were not a lot of places nearby to go and meet people, play games and see shows. It was their community center where they could go after work or on the weekends. If The Henry Club returned to Sloatsburg, it would be a perfect place for families to get together to do family activities. Some activities may be playing games, cards, pool, and air hockey. It could be a place where families see a movie together on the weekend, or sign-up to do a play or have a dance like square dancing or line dancing. Another idea might be to have it open after school. I know Sloatsburg has a Library, but this could be another place to study, get help on projects, read, use a computer, play games or maybe take mini-classes like painting, drawing, arts and crafts, or have people come and speak about a topic. It would be also great to have a place to go in the winter when we are in the house so much. When it is good weather we have many places to go like the Pine Grove Playground and Lake, the Sloatsburg Town Pool, the Community Field, and Seven Lakes Drive. An indoor club would be perfect for kids of all ages and parents too. If each family had to pay a small amount for the membership, then people would also feel they should keep it neat and clean with many fun things to do with their family. The Henry Club in the past was about good, clean fun. We need a place like this too!