Last call for Hempfield's Midway-St. Clair Social Club

It’s last call for the The Midway-St. Clair Social Club in Hempfield, which has been serving members for about 77 years.

The club’s last night of operation is Saturday, said Barry Elder, president of the Midway-St. Clair Volunteer Fire Department. Owned by the department, the shuttering of the club on Broadway Avenue is considered permanent, according to a post on the fire station’s Facebook page.

“I feel almost like I lost a family member. … I’m kind of emotional,” said Elder, who served as chief for 18 years.

The decision to close the club, which opened in 1944, was made during a June 6 special meeting of the executive board of the fire department. They are considering whether to join the newly created Hempfield Township Fire Department, Elder said.

If the board agrees to the move, the township will acquire financial obligations as well as property and apparatus owned by the station. Township manager Jason Winters noted Hempfield officials are interested only in the firefighting aspects of the department and have “no interest in the social club side.”

Elder noted the bartender at the social club recently resigned.

“We were thinking it’s probably just a matter of time anyhow,” Elder said of the club’s closing. “Whenever this agreement is signed with the township, it would have been closed down probably within a year, so we might as well do it now instead of going through the hassle of trying to find a new steward.”

The department’s executive board is scheduled to vote during a meeting Wednesday, Elder said. If they move forward with becoming chartered members — potentially joining North Hempfield and Hempfield No. 2 — township supervisors would vote on a letter of intent from the station.

Winters noted that at this point, the township has not had an official conversation with members of the Midway-St. Clair station regarding them becoming chartered members. However, Elder added, “The anticipation is that we’re going to go all in with the township.”

During the club’s last night in operation, members will be served for free. Officers of another area social club, Hempfield Hunt Club on East Pennsylvania Avenue in New Stanton, are offering Midway-St. Clair patrons discounted memberships in light of the closure, according to a post on the Hunt Club’s Facebook page.

Of Midway-St.Clair Social Club’s closure, Elder said, “You feel bad for your people who have been coming in for years, like me.”