HISTORY OF COUNCIL 4034 KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS
FIRST IN THE AREA
In late l954, the members of the Holy Name Society of St. Mary's Catholic Church began planning for the organization of a Knights of Columbus Council in the Fredericksburg area. Reverend James J Widmer, pastor of St. Mary's and his Excellency Bishop Ireton readily gave their permission.
After much planning and many organizational meetings, the Council was formed and its Charter issued on May 24, 1955. Brothers James Welsh, State Deputy, Leo Binns, Tom Saady and Mike Kelleher from Council 395, Richmond Virginia were instrumental in having the Fredericksburg Council chartered and participated in the conferring of the degrees of the Order upon the 62 Charter Members. J.A.E. "Eddie" Piette was elected our First Grand Knight.
Initially the membership represented the areas of Fredericksburg, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, King George, Prince William and Colonial Beach. As the area and membership grew, the Fredericksburg Council was instrumental in helping to form additional Councils in Culpeper and Manassas with many of our members transferring and becoming charter members in these Councils.
The Council meetings were held in the activities center of old St. Mary's Church. In 1963 the opportunity presented itself to purchase a building of our own, which was then Hedge's Restaurant on Route #1. The building, after much renovation, became the activities center for the Knights until the spring of 1970 when the building collapsed. Through the generosity of Mr. Sam Shipp the Council was able to continue its activities at the Silver Slipper until the Spring of 1972 when our new and present Council Home was built.
The present Council membership is well in excess of 250 members. Plans are being formulated to establish new Councils in some of the areas now served by Council 4034. In all cases the Fredericksburg Council will be instrumental in establishing these Councils as well as provide many of the initial charter members.
20 of our 62 charter members, including our first chaplain Fr. James Widmer, have passed onto their eternal reward.
Fredericksburg Council 4034, under the present leadership of Grand Knight Tom Berger, continues to grow and prosper. The Council involvement with the Church, Community and Country, through its various programs such as Youth, Community, Council, Church, Fraternal and Family activities as well as KOVAR, Knights of Virginia Assistance to the Retarded, continues to receive many commendations from local and state organizations.
The paragraphs above cover the first twenty-five years of the Fredericksburg Council’s history and were taken from a program booklet published for the Twenty-fifth Anniversary dinner held in 1980. It is worth adding to this summary of the Council’s first quarter century that it started sponsoring Blood Drives in 1958 as a community service project. In 1967, the Council learned that this project had been adopted by many other Councils in the state. The Fredericksburg Council’s Blood Drive continues to this day.
In the decade following its silver anniversary, Council 4034 had a very active period of growth and charitable service. Membership reached a peak of 291 in 1985 despite the loss of 36 members in 1981 when both Holy Trinity Council in King George and the Fr. Widmer Council at the new parish of St. William of York in North Stafford were chartered. During this time Bingo provided a gross income of as much as $40,000 in a single year.
The Bingo income allowed the Council to perform many varied acts of charity such as a $10,000 contribution to the Montfort Academy expansion fund. Many other charitable programs were low key and behind the scenes. For example, working with school nurses, vouchers redeemable for children’s shoes at K-Mart were provided to families in need. The Council made a regular monthly contribution to Birthright of Fredericksburg to defray the cost of their telephone system.
In 1988 Bingo was suspended due to a falloff of attendance during reconstruction of U.S. Route 1 in front of the Council Home. However, the old patrons failed to return when the road work was completed. The bingo games struggled until 1991, when the Bingo program was terminated following eight straight weeks of losses. The Council fell into difficult times with membership stagnated around 200 and most of the fund-raising efforts going to operations and maintenance of the Council Home building. A brighter note was the spin off of Battlefield Council in 1990
New sources of income were developed. The Christmas Tree sales were instituted in 1993 and about the same time the Keep Christ in Christmas cards sales began. An unsatisfactory attempt was made to turn the Council Home building into a catering center during the mid-nineties. Finally, the Fredericksburg Council voted to sell the Cambridge St. property in 1998. The council met for about 18 months in the St. Mary’s Activity Center before moving into its present Home on Harrison Road in 2000. The new building is divided between the Council Home and an income producing unit that provides funds for operations and maintenance. This has allowed the Council to concentrate its efforts on its primary missions of service to the Church and the community.
The Fredericksburg Council entered the twenty-first century with a surge in growth. Membership topped 300 in 2007 despite a transfer of 47 members to the new Council at St. Jude’s parish in 2005. The Council has earned the Double Star Council award three times since its fiftieth anniversary in 2005. We take pride in our past and anticipate increased success in our future.
