American Legion Post 604
Arenzville, Illinois
For more than 75 years, the American Legion Post 604 has been the home of Arenzville’s veterans – and the home of the community they came back to serve.
This page tells the story of how it began: a promise made during wartime, and a community that kept it.
The veterans who built this hall, and the generations who followed them, are all documented in the archive. Search for a name, a family, or an era.
Veterans Serving Veterans – and Their Communities
The American Legion is the largest veterans organisation in the United States, founded in 1919 by veterans returning from World War I. At its core is a simple but powerful mission: to serve veterans, their families, and the communities they came home to defend.
In Arenzville, that mission has been carried out by Post 604 – a local chapter that has brought together veterans of every era, from the men who came home from the trenches of World War I to those who returned from the deserts of Iraq.
The Legion post is not just a veterans’ organisation. It is, and has always been, a community organisation – one that opened its doors to everyone from its very first day.
A Call to Action – The 1946 Arenzville Burgoo
The story of Post 604’s Legion Hall begins not in a meeting room or a planning document, but at a community gathering.
Around 1946, at the annual Arenzville Burgoo – the beloved community festival that has defined this town for generations – Ensign Robert D. Clark stood before the assembled servicemen and called upon the veterans of Arenzville to come together and support the American Legion Post 604.
A photograph preserves the moment. The Burgoo was the right place for such a call: it was the community at its most itself, gathered around the kettles, reuniting after years of war, beginning to rebuild what the conflict had interrupted.
Within a year, the plans were in motion.
Building the Legion Hall – 1947
In the spring of 1947, the recently reorganized American Legion Post 604 put forward an ambitious plan: to build a permanent meeting hall for Arenzville’s veterans.
The building they envisioned was thirty feet by eighty feet – a main floor designed for meetings, programs, and dances, and a basement with a kitchen equipped for serving suppers and banquets. The estimated cost: $7,600, exclusive of furnishings.
They already had a site – located near the proposed location of the new water tower. What they needed was the community’s support.
On May 12, 1947, two letters went out to the citizens of Arenzville. One came from Kenneth Hierman, Commander of American Legion Post 604. The other came from Edward Wessler, President of the Arenzville Community Club.
The response was overwhelming.
The Legion Hall was built. And it has served three generations of Arenzville ever since – as the home of Post 604, yes, but also as a venue for town organisation meetings, church dinners, dances, family gatherings, school classrooms, musical concerts, flower shows, and dramatic performances.
A community built it for its veterans. Its veterans gave it back to the community. And it has been both ever since.
The Letters of May 12, 1947
The following letters were sent to the citizens of Arenzville on May 12, 1947, to appeal for support in building the Legion Hall. They are reproduced here in full as primary historical documents. Copies were generously donated to this archive by Ruby Clark Willingham.
What the Community Said
When the call went out in May 1947, Arenzville responded. Here are the voices of the community – preserved exactly as they were written, seventy-five years ago.
“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 the 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
Serving Three Generations – and Counting
The Legion Hall that was built with those contributions in 1947 still stands. It has hosted meetings, celebrations, memorials, and community gatherings for more than 75 years – for the veterans who built it, their children, their grandchildren, and a new generation of Arenzville families.
It remains what Kenneth Hierman and Edward Wessler described in their letters: a place for veterans and a place for the community. The two have never been separate in Arenzville.
"The Town Tattler" – A Thread That Runs Through the Archive
In his 1947 letter, Edward Wessler made a passing but important reference:
"We wrote it in the Town Tattler that the community of Arenzville sent the boys to keep them up on their home-town happenings."
With Thanks to Ruby Clark Willingham
The letters, photographs, and materials reproduced on this page were generously donated to this archive by Ruby Clark Willingham. Without her contribution, these primary source documents – and the remarkable story they tell – might have been lost.
The webmaster and the Village of Arenzville extend their sincere gratitude.
Help Us Preserve the Story of Post 604
The history of American Legion Post 604 is the history of Arenzville’s promise to its veterans – and that history is still being made. If you have photographs, documents, membership records, personal accounts, or memories connected to Post 604 and the Legion Hall, we want to hear from you.