There will again be a light house on the hill at the Mineola Country Club.

The club gathered Jan. 31 to break ground on its new clubhouse after the historic structure burned on Aug. 21.

Club President Dan Carroll said the light and the laughter will return as people gather

“The club is not the building, it is all of you,” he said at the Jan. 31 ceremony.

Mayor Jayne Lankford said it is so seldom to have the chance to rebuild bigger and better.

The club has been a part of Mineola, and it has come a long way from Jenkins Dairy Farm, which once occupied the site until the club was founded in 1932, she noted.

The memories are gone, but Mineola Country Club has the strength of its people, Carroll said.

The building burned, but the spirit didn’t that day, and the battle cry became “bigger and better,” he added.

Outgoing President Kris Rinks said it has been one heck of a roller coaster since the fire.

The members and the community stepped up in ways they had never been asked to do before.

He expressed gratitude for the support, adding the board “probably would have all lost our minds” without it.

He said he is looking forward to the time when “we ask for the key for the first time” in 7-8 months.

Board member Johnny Sherrill credited the “stick-to-itiveness” of those involved for making the new clubhouse possible.

Carroll credited the city of Mineola for helping fast-track the project, Broad Street Bank for assistance with financing and last year’s board of directors.

“They faced a task unlike any board that’s ever served,” he said. “It was a scary time, folks.”

There was a lot of hard work and a lot of hours, he said, and the current board still has a lot of work to do.

A temporary clubhouse was erected to serve until the new building is completed around the end of the year. It will then be repurposed.