neighbors. Colonel D. A. Robertson, a fruit grower, journalist, legislator, and sheriff, spearheaded much of the early recruitment effort. By choosing respected men in the community to lead the charge, particularly in the South, Kelley’s army of recruiters soon met with considerable success. A. J. Rose, a rancher, farmer, and education reformer, was a prime example in Texas. Rose reassured wary farmers that the organization was fundamentally conservative in nature and pointed to its refusal to ally itself with the Knights of Labor (one of the largest and most influential labor unions of the 1870s and ’80s) as proof.13
Figure 1.4. Oliver Kelley Farm, 2013. Source: Photograph by Austin Wahl
In Minnesota, many people organized a single subordinate Grange, but a few organized huge numbers of them. Among all those involved, 65 individuals organized only one subordinate each and 49 organized between two and four subordinates. An early success was T. A. Thompson, a State Worthy Master and a Worthy Lecturer for the National Grange, who organized 37 subordinates in the period 1870–73. Even more prolific was State Worthy Master George I. Parsons, a Winona farmer and lawyer who organized 87 subordinates, all in 1873. After his initial failures, Oliver Kelley rallied during the early ’70s to organize 20 Minnesota subordinates single-handedly and cofound another.14
Recruiters changed the face of the Grange dramatically in the early 1870s. At one point, the rate of increase in new subordinates nationally was 2,000 per month. By 1874, the number of subordinates had climbed to 21,687, and only Rhode Island had no State Grange. Total Grange membership was 858,050 by 1875, with nearly half of all members residing in the Midwest. Iowa led the pack with 1,994 subordinates. Indiana had two Granges for each of the 984 townships in the state. Missouri had 80,000 members, encompassing more than 25 percent of farm families; and Kansas Grangers included at least three-quarters of all those eligible for membership. Out of a total of 834 subordinates ever formed in Minnesota, an astonishing 304 opened their doors in 1873, with 126 joining them the following year. The Grange spread into Canada as well.15
Small chapters proliferated initially whereas later chapters boasted much larger enrollment, although the pace of formation slowed. The average number of original members in Minnesota subordinate Granges chartered between 1868 and 1962 is 34; two enormous Granges sprang up in Mower County in 1912 with initial subscriptions of 123 and 133.16
A hierarchy formed above the subordinates. Once six subordinates had been established in a state, they could create a State Grange. After a number of State Granges emerged in the 1870s, a permanent National Grange solidified.17
For both practical and symbolic reasons, many subordinates constructed their own halls. Grange halls provided a centralized meeting place and displayed commitment to the community; they still dot the American countryside. Figures 1.5 and 1.6 show the Minnehaha Grange hall in 1945 and today. Grange halls often feature a raised platform at one end of the main room, various stations for officers, pillars and panels depicting Roman and Greek figures, and portraits of patriots and philosophers.18 Chapter 4 offers more details about these grassroots operations.
The Role of Women
From the beginning, the Grange recognized the importance of family members working together to support the farm. To obtain a charter, a subordinate Grange had to consist of at least one-third men and one-third women. This mixed-gender requirement made the Grange quite different from nearly every other social, economic, cultural, and political association of the time.19
Figure 1.5. Minnehaha Grange Hall, 1945. Source: Minnesota Historical Society
Figure 1.6. Minnehaha Grange Hall, 2013. Source: Photograph by author
The emphasis on female participation stemmed in part from Kelley’s devotion to his niece, Caroline Hall, who encouraged the involvement of women in the nascent society. Tellingly, Miss Hall suggested that females would add stability to the Grange because they would undertake all the routine work.20 The Minnehaha Grange’s experience offers some support for her view—although men served as secretary for the first ten years, women took over that role for the next seventy-seven. But women held loftier positions as well. In Minnesota, for instance, Sarah Baird organized three subordinates around the turn of the twentieth century. Mrs. Baird was a member of the Minnehaha Grange; she became the first female to occupy the position of State Worthy Master when she ascended to that post in 1894. Besides Sarah Baird, Minnesota boasted two other females at the head of the State Grange: Annie Bull in 1897 and Hildur Archer in 1963.21
Aaron Grosh, first chaplain for the Grange, took another view of female involvement: he thought women would elevate the tone of the meetings. Echoing Ole Rolvaag, author of the classic pioneer saga Giants in the Earth, he also worried about farmer wives ending up in the lunatic asylum if they didn’t get out of the house more often.22
Although Grange tracts suggest that men and women were equal members, this wasn’t quite true. The Declaration of Purposes is guarded: “We proclaim it among our purposes to inculcate a proper appreciation of the abilities and sphere of women.” Grange discussions about economic policy and action mostly took place at county-level meetings of male delegates. For early Grangers, the women’s chief role was to promote virtue in men and children. But if females played a somewhat lesser part in the Patrons than males, they also paid less: original initiation fees were $3 for men but only 50 cents for women. The Minnehaha Grange initially established monthly dues for men at 20 cents and for women at 10 cents.23
Masonic Overtones
Kelley’s Masonic background had given him entrée into southern households as well as suggested a structure for the new farmers’ organization. The Minnehaha Grange minutes from 30 September 1933 refer to the well-known anecdote of Kelley’s meeting a young southerner who had sworn never to allow a northerner to cross his doorstep after Yankees killed his Confederate father, but who admitted Kelley because he was a “brother Mason.” A case study of Black’s Bend Grange in Alabama states that nearly every page of the minute book bears the “imprint of Masonry.”24
Like the Masons, the Grangers wore special regalia, established a hierarchical series of degrees, and conducted a portion of their meetings in secret rituals. The Fuller Regalia and Costume Company in Worcester, Massachusetts, supplied jewels, sashes, and badges to the Minnehaha Grange and other subordinates around the country. The Fuller Company also sold Masonic jewels and apparel, as well as badges, flags, banners, and sashes to Civil War veterans.25 Figure 1.7 depicts an early Patrons of Husbandry Badge, and Figure 1.8 shows the Minnehaha officers for the 1944–45 session dressed in their finery.
Figure 1.7. Grange Badge, 1867. Source: Minnesota Historical Society
