The first Rocky
Grove Band was a strong community group that owed much to the musical Hoffman
family.
The first
leader was Camilla Hoffman. The Hoffman family moved to the Rocky Grove from
Clintonville in 1907. The band formed in 1911 and became very active, playing
for a wide variety of community activities from the Dempseytown Harvest Home to
the county Sunday School convention to women's suffrage meeting. They even
played the occasional sit down concert at the corner of Rocky Grove and Parker
Avenues.
In August of
1915, at the age of 29, Camilla Hoffman died of infantile paralysis. The entire
community mourned the loss; all Rocky Grove businesses closed on the day of the
funeral.
The band
quickly rebounded. Leon Hoffman was chosen leader, and they continued to be an
active performing group. Like most area performing groups, the Rocky Grove Band
had some personnel overlap with other area groups. Coulter Hoffman and Curt
Bower both played with the Franklin Band.
In 1917 the
band enlisted as a group; 16 members were accepted into the Coast Guard Band at
Cape May, where they served out the war.Here's a photo of the Coast Guard group.
After the war,
the Rocky Grove Band experienced the same difficulties felt throughout the band
world. By 1920, they had decided to pack it in. When the Franklin Band decided
to revive itself, remaining Rocky Grove Band members joined in and helped bring
the band back to health. In fact, for a few months they were known as the
Franklin-Rocky Grove Band.
Rocky Grove
would not have a band of its own again until the late 1930's. The Rocky Grove
Volunteer Fireman's Band was enormously popular, and was the first band in the
region to march with accordions. Coulter Hoffman and Robert Rice were among the
directors of this group that included many players who also appeared with the
Franklin Band.
