LIC History
Longbranch Improvement Club
LIC Vision: “To encourage any activity for the betterment of Schools, Homemaking, Roads, Marketing, Dairy, Poultry and all its branches” Over time, the need has shifted to general community betterment through recreational, social, and financial means.
Longbranch is a rural community located on the south end of the heavily forested Key Peninsula, surrounded on three sides by the Salish Sea. Modern residents of Longbranch keep in touch easily through social media and mobile networks, but the pioneering families of this area in the early 1900s had to come together in person to build their community, and that’s where our story begins…
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The Longbranch Improvement Club (LIC) was incorporated on December 10, 1921, shortly before the first paved county road came through the area. The LIC was formed to purchase real estate for recreation and for a consolidated school. The newly formed club then purchased ten acres next to the road, clearing and leveling an area between a salmon-running stream and the new highway.
Beginning Improvements
Baseball was a popular social event in 1920s rural America, offering a welcome diversion from the endless labor of logging and farming, and helping to bridge the language and religious differences of immigrant settlers. Each community fielded a team, and the Longbranch team quickly became the pride of the Peninsula. The LIC built a baseball field and grandstand on their cleared acreage, then donated three adjacent acres for a two-room consolidated school.
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The iconic timbered A-frame of the Longbranch Clubhouse was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1939 as a gymnasium next to the two-room schoolhouse. The LIC purchased the land and buildings when the school district consolidated classes into a larger site elsewhere, then in 1956 the LIC added rest rooms, upgraded the kitchen, and installed a wooden floor in the facility.
Nurturing a Growing Community
As the years passed, Longbranch grew. Roads were improved, land cleared, and more homes built. The LIC continued improving the community by providing leadership and resources for development as the increasing population came with increasing needs.
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In 1976 the LIC donated funds for an ambulance to provide emergency medical care to Longbranch. In the late 1980’s the LIC provided the land, building, and water supply for Longbranch’s volunteer fire department - later deeding the property for one dollar to the new Fire District 16.
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During the 1990s the LIC dedicated its energies to upgrading the dock facilities, adding a covered public picnic area, and renovating the kitchen and restrooms in the Clubhouse. Significant improvements continue to be made including a new wharf in 2012, replacement of creosote piling and upgrading the floating structure in 2019.
Making Memories
In 1987, the LIC’s clubhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places as one of the “tangible reminders of the history of the United States and…a cultural resource worthy of preservation.”
The Clubhouse has held the space for many events over the years: high school basketball games, wartime bandage rolling, huckleberry festivals, fund-raisers, basket socials, Sunday schools and funerals. The LIC’s highly popular dances and community theater events at the clubhouse were the height of social life in the area.
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It was home for the Longbranch Arts and Music Association and the Longbranch Nursery School. The 1976 Bicentennial Fair opened with a Civil War recreation on the Clubhouse grounds. The two-day celebration included a baseball game on the original field, dinghy races from the Marina, sky divers and antique stunt planes.
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The LIC helped found the Key Peninsula’s annual Livable Community Fair in 2001. The Fair celebrates resource and service organizations while providing a true community event supported by thousands of volunteer hours. More recently, the LIC has become an integral part of the Key Peninsula’s Annual Farm Tour with its showcase event, the Fiber Arts Festival, taking place on the first Saturday in October.
A Focus on Service
The club’s founders would be proud of the Longbranch Improvement Club today. With more than 200 members, the LIC provides a meeting place for community interaction, a site for fund-raising and celebrations, and the opportunity to steward an historic building. The club’s Marina provides the public with marine park moorage, recreational opportunities, and services—at no taxpayer expense.
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The volunteer efforts of the LIC members make perhaps the greatest contribution to the community. In recent years, the LIC membership has donated more than 5,000 volunteer hours annually to staff community events, clean up the highways, and provide meals and Christmas gifts for disadvantaged children, as well as maintaining and preserving our historic facilities.
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Bridging income disparity is a vital interest of the LIC, and through the years we’ve sponsored food drives, blanket drives, reading programs, direct and indirect support of scholarships - including support of Evergreen Elementary School’s Science/Ecology Outdoor Education Camp held each spring.
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In January 2016, The Longbranch Foundation (TLF) was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization affiliated with the LIC. TLF is the vehicle to raise money through grants and donations for the purpose of preserving and investing in the South Key Peninsula community - from historic building preservation, to environmental and public safety improvements at the Longbranch Marina, to scholarships for children in the community.