The McMicken Heights Community Club in SeaTac will disband and the club's building will be sold to make way for neighborhood development.

Members of the club's board, who announced the end of the 60-year-old organization in a recent news release, said the action is necessary because "community interest ... has dwindled and membership has fallen off."

To mark the long history of the McMicken Heights Community Club and recognize the many contributions of all its members and other residents of the area, a farewell open house will be held Sunday, Dec. 3, from 2 to 5 p.m.

The board invited anyone who has enjoyed or participated in any of the functions of the club at any time to share in recognizing the place it has had in the SeaTac community.

Community residents organized the club in 1946 with the primary goal of making the area a better place to live, the board recalled in the release.

They saw a need to form an association to provide a building in which the community could meet, represent the community to government officials, provide social activities for residents and other activities benefiting the people living in the area.

A lot was purchased in 1950. It was cleared and zoned. Money and pledges were solicited for the building fund. Carnival and bingo games were outstanding moneymakers. Two buildings were moved onto the lot; one for Boy Scout use and the other for a library.

Construction of the club building started in 1956 with many hours of volunteer labor. It was dedicated four years later on June 6, 1960, with 300 people attending.

The club's many accomplishments included the creation of an all-volunteer fire station, an elementary school, streetlights, house-to-house mail delivery, sewers, public transportation and reduced electric rates. It also successfully urged King County to improve the roads.

The club furnished rooms for a library, kindergarten, Scout meetings, teen dances, and other youth and adult activities. It sponsored a well baby clinic, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Sea Scouts and a Club Queen and Princess.

The club's members donated blood at award-winning levels.

It published a monthly Bulletin that to over 1,500 homes free of charge. Volunteers did the work and local business advertising covered the cost of mailing. This served as the neighborhood newspaper.

The Club has sponsored plant exchanges, rummage sales, entries in the SeaTac parade, Halloween parties, and decorated Christmas trees for a youth home.

The building has served as an election-polling place and provided an open bingo game for the last several years as well as furnishing rooms for meetings, receptions and many other activities.

The Board of Directors expressed its gratitude to everyone who has helped make a difference to their neighbors over the years through their contributions to the success of the community club.