1940’s through 1950’s: McCutchanville Horse Racing

January 1, 1945

In 1940’s and 50’s horseback riding became popular. It was in 1945 a group within the community decided it would be nice to have a horse show. They successfully hosted two of these horse shows with thousands in attendance. Once the events got big they began wondering what would have happened if anybody had been injured at the event. They soon found out that they would have been individually liable for damages. To protect themselves, the members decided to form a non-profit corporation. Someone mentioned at this point that, “While we’re at it why not make it a club to sponsor other civic projects as well?”. Within a year the McCutchanville Benefit Club already had 50 members with an intent of having 200 soon after.

After purchasing 25 acres just north of the town for a park, they decided they needed something else. The members decided they needed a fire engine in order to best fight these fires in a timely manner. This would dramatically change the way they traditionally had fought the fires in previous years using buckets, sacks, and the old WW2 civil defense trailer. They continued to hold horse races and in the autumn shooting matches.