When was the grange created

The family is the base of the organization with full membership beginning at age Women have been equal members since the inception of the Grange. We have a Junior Grange program for children age 5 to 14, that has helped the youngest members of the family learn about community values and citizenship for more than years. Our Grange Youth program develops the leadership skills of our young adults and young married couples.

The foundation of the organization is the Community Grange, which can be found in rural, suburban and urban communities. Faith, hope, charity, and fidelity are the basic lessons of the Community Grange. To learn more, see the Declaration of Purposes. Our membership sets the direction and activities for their Community Grange in true grassroots fashion, and those decisions seep up to the national level. Nonpartisan legislative advocacy, educational programs, service projects, and social interaction and networking are just a few of the ways local Granges serve their communities and members.

Over years, the organization continues to grow, chartering several new Granges in in communities across the United States. During the s, the Grangers advocated programs such as the following: Cooperative purchasing ventures as a means to obtain lower prices on farm equipment and supplies Pooling of savings as an alternative to dependence on corrupt banks, an early form of credit union Cooperative grain elevators to hold non-perishable crops until the optimal times to sell An abortive effort to manufacture farm equipment; this venture depleted the Granger organization's funds and was instrumental in its decline.

A major shortcoming of the movement was the failure to address what was probably the root cause of many farm ills—overproduction. There were too many farmers and too much productive land; the advent of new, mechanized equipment only exacerbated the difficulties.

A few perceptive individuals recognized that flooding the market with produce only depressed prices further. Mary Elizabeth Lease of Kansas, one of the nation's first female attorneys, traveled to grange halls and urged the farmers to "raise less corn and more hell. The Grange as a political force peaked around , then gradually declined. New organizations with more potent messages emerged, including the Greenback Party of the s, the Farmers' Alliances of the s and the Populist Party of the s.

The Grange opposed the manufacturing and processing monopolies that fixed grain and livestock prices at a disadvantage to farmers. They also protested the high railroad freight rates farmers had to pay to get their products to market.

Within two years, Minnesota had 40 Grange chapters and a state organization. By , with farmers battling falling crop prices and rising railroad shipping costs, Grange membership had grown to nearly , members in 9, chapters across the nation.

Thanks to Caroline Hall, the National Grange was the first national organization to require leadership roles for women; at least four of its 16 elected positions had to be held by women.