The Grange: Formation and effects.

The Grange: Formation and effects. 

“National Grange Headquarters. Washington D.C.”

Image used claiming fair use. National Grange

      

   The Order of Patrons of Husbandry, more commonly known as the Grange, was established on December 4, 1867 in Washington, D.C. On this day a group of seven men, Oliver H. Kelley, Aaron B. Grosh, William M. Ireland, John R. Thompson, Francis McDowell, John Trimble and a Superintendent from the Department of Agriculture, William Saunders, started an institution that would go on to play a crucial role in the preservation and expansion of American democracy. On June 29, 1960 President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicated a new National Grange headquarters building in a federal block across from the White House. It is currently the only    private edifice in this area.

The Grange goes south.

      The Grange was the first of the general farmer originations to appear in the south after the Civil War. The Grange was at first met with apprehension by southerners whom felt that the organization had ulterior motives sympathetic to northern ideals, and that it would pose a threat to previously existing localized farm groups. Many also believed that Grange was simply a tool to further the existing hostilities between races.  However despite many early southern apprehensions, and thanks in part to growing sponsorship by local leaders, the grange had become a program that actually aided in keeping with southern customs and traditions. Interest in the Grange grew and by 1873 it had appeared in all parts of the south.  Throughout the south the members of the Grange worked to improve the economic and social distresses resulting from the previous years of war. They carried out tasks such as the repair of farmhouses, barns, fences, gin-houses, sugar houses and warehouses.

“I Feed You All” lithograph by American Oleograph Co. Milwaukee, CA 1875.

Image used, claiming fair use

 

Women and the Grange

      Since the beginning Grangers recognized the importance of women to rural family economies and communities. To this extent the Grange provided a very important social outlet for farm women, allowing them to participate as equals in an organization that attempted to directly improve their lives and the lives of their families. By welcoming women into their ranks and allowing them to have an equal voice and the ability to vote on Grange issues and policies, women participated fully. They wrote for the Grange Visitor, lobbied in state and local forums for fair treatment of small farmers and gave speeches at Grange sponsored speaking tours Successful examples of women’s leadership within the organization allowed the Grange to support both woman suffrage and temperance

 

“WCTU at the Tavern, 1874”

Image used, claiming fair use. Conner Prairie