What is a Grange?

Before a grange meeting, the places are ready for the three graces, 

Flora (flowers) Ceres (wheat), and Pomona (fruit), 

and the podium is ready for the Master of the Grange.

"So tell me about the Grange; what is it? Is it a meeting house for farmers?"

As a fourth generation grange member and Past-Master of Altona Grange, no. 127, this is a question I’m often asked.

The answer to that question is yes and no. The Grange was and sometimes sometimes still is, a community meeting house. In years past, the Grange halls where meeting houses, but only for the members in good standing of that Grange who were usually, but not always, farmers. Granges and their halls still serve the rural communities of America. Historically, the Grange held meetings twice a month for its members. Meetings usually started with a potluck dinner in the basement if there was one, then the adults moved upstairs for the closed-door meetings. After wards there would be a program or, more commonly, a dance. The grange also held many activities for the member’s children and athletic, music and dance activities. For children ages 5-14 a junior grange would be held in the basement for them at the same time their parents met for their meeting.

The National Grange and the grange movement was formed on December 4, 1867 after the Civil War as a fraternal order. It was first called The Patrons of Husbandry and later, more commonly, The Grange. This was a way to organize the farmers at the local, regional, state, and national levels and give the rural parts of our country help after it had been devastated from the war. The meetings were closed door; you could not get in unless you knew the secret password (which changes every year) and the special handshake. This kept out people who were not wanted, such as railroad men - who wanted to know what the Grangers were organizing against them. The meetings and organization of the grange were filled with ritual, loosely based on Roman mythology. Members were elected to positions such as Master (president), Overseer (vice-president), Treasurer, Secretary, Lecturer (program manager), Chaplain, Steward, Asst. Steward, Asst. Lady-Steward, and Gatekeeper. And there were three positions held by women that represented the activities of rural life and were taken from Roman mythology. These positions are called the three graces, “Ceres, Flora, and Pomona. After the Civil War, the men who started the grange movement recognized that success of rural America would involve women helping those who had returned from war. And they recognized that in many cases it would be the women who would be farming as widows or as wives of invalids. These three positions, the three Graces in the grange, recognized the need to support women after the war so women (and youth beginning at age 14) were given full voting and leadership privileges.

Grange meetings began with the rap of the Master’s gavel; Leaders would take their places and put on their sashes. The three graces sat at the very top of the hall, the Master stood to their side by the American Flag. The Secretary and Treasurer sat on the other side of the three graces. The Assistant Steward and Assistant Lady Steward would walk around the room, each member whispering the secret word into their ear. Anyone not knowing the secret password was escorted out by the Gatekeeper who sat by the door making sure no one passed into the room without his permission. The three executives sit on the side of the room, closest to the Master. The Chaplain and the Lecturer sit at each side of the room, one on the left and one on the right. The Overseer, Steward, and Assistant Stewards sit at the back of the hall, the Overseer opposite to the three graces. A song was sung then the business of the day was conducted. After the rap of the gavel that ended the meeting, the children emerged from the basement and the hall was cleared for a dance or a program.

The granges that ran smoothly and are the most successful are ran by volunteer members who serve on committees. Historically, standing committees of the grange included agricultural, legislative, membership, relief, women's activities, financial, insurance (a one person committee who was the insurance agent for the farmers), youth, junior Grange (for children ages 5-14), resolutions (a committee which helped all other committees write resolutions to be presented), athletic, community service, and educational. All committees worked for the grange membership with the exception of the youth committee. The youth committee partnered with outside organizations to reach out to community youth. It was a great way to build grange membership by recruiting new members into the Junior Grange. At age 14 these youth would then become members of the adult Subordinate Grange. The youth committee partnered with organizations such as 4-H, an activity often held at the grange. Activities by the athletic committee included organizing horseshoe and baseball games, shooting matches, square dances teams and early on, horse races. The granges competed against each other, with the best teams competing at the Pomona and State grange. Resuscitation, music, and grange scrapbooks were also judged at regional and state competitions.

Resolutions that were written and passed at local granges made their way to the State and National Granges. If there was enough support for change presented in the resolution, these were lobbied to our state and national legislators by the legislation committees. Some laws that were passed at the national level included regulating the railroad companies to control price fixing. And the passing of the Rural Free Delivery so that farms could receive the same mail delivery service that towns people received. Legislative work is still the work of the National and State Granges today.

At this grange meeting, Mr. DeWalt (in the gray jacket) receives his "Golden Sheaf" pin as a member of Altona Grange, no. 127.  A Golden Sheaf member has to have 50 consecutive years as a member to qualify.  His daughter, the Assistant Lady Steward and son-in-law, the Assistant Steward (in matching outfits) take part in the ceremony.  If you look closely, you can see that both are holding their staves.  

Photo take in the early 1960's.

Most folks are not familiar with the work of the Granges across our country; they have either driven by a grange or attended an event at a Grange hall. While the outside of a grange hall may be different, the insides are pretty much the same. Grange halls are long rooms many times with a stage. Leadership positions were assigned special places to sit around the hall - every grange meeting was set up in the same way. Each leader’s sash had an emblem on it representing their position. An “M” on the sash stood for Master, etc. This was the same at all granges. The local, or Subordinate Granges as they are called, wear dark blue sashes. Regional, or Pomona Grange as they are called, wear light yellow sashes, state granges wear light blue, Leaders in the national grange wear gold sashes. Some positions of leadership also had a long pole called a stave with a finial on it that represented their position. Each leader carried their stave with them as they preformed their role in the meeting’s rituals. Everyone sat around the room against the four walls. An alter stood in the center of the top third of the grange hall. Below it, in the center of the bottom third of the hall, a rug – called “the cloth”, was placed on the floor. The area around the alter and the cloth were considered sacred areas. When a grange vote was to be cast, a voting box with white and black marbles was placed on the alter. Members were escorted by the Assistant Stewards pass the alter to cast their vote into the box. And it was a special moment when the Assistant Steward or Lady Assistant Steward escorted new members to stand on the cloth, or to the alter. When you became a member of the grange, after passing your fourth degree, you passed under the crossed staves to stand on the cloth. There you took your oath to be a good grange member. While meetings were formal, the social time was not. Today, thanks to those who maintain their membership in the grange and volunteer to serve on committees, great fun can still be had at the grange!

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