In Essentials, Unity - Jenny Bourne New Approaches to Midwestern Studies

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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

      Figure 1.8. Officers of the Minnehaha Grange, 1944–45. Source: Minnesota Historical Society

      The ceremonial objects did not come cheap: in 1928, for example, a set of symbolic tools cost $3.75 (about $51 in today’s prices), pins were $1.25 ($17 today), and sashes ranged from the “economically priced” $16.50 version ($224 today) to the model with fringe, tassels, and stars at $100 ($1,357 today). Regalia jewels in 1947 ranged in price from $6 to $15 ($62 to $156 today).26

      Kelley viewed degree work partly as a way of educating farmers. Each degree requires candidates to listen to lectures about morality and focuses their attention on tools and symbols to remind them of lessons learned. For example, the first degree for males is “Laborer”: it teaches the virtues of hard work and extols the nobility of agriculture. Symbolic tools include the ax, plow, harrow, and spade. Degree names are separate for men and women: Laborer (Maid), Cultivator (Shepherdess), Harvester (Gleaner), Husbandman (Matron), Pomona (Hope), Flora (Charity), and Demeter/Ceres (Faith). These degrees create a hierarchical structure like that of the Masons or the military—fitting, as many of the early Grangers were also Civil War veterans. A degree culminates with a tableau formed by its recipients (fig. 1.9). Those who reach the fourth-degree threshold are eligible to form Pomonas, which are typically county-based associations.27 Figure 1.10 summarizes the Grange organizational structure.

      Figure 1.9. Degree Tableaux, 1947. Source: Minnesota Historical Society

      Figure 1.10. Organizational Structure of the Grange. Source: National Grange

      The preamble to the Granger constitution, written in 1874, uses (literally) flowery language to justify ritual. “Unity of action [cannot] be acquired without discipline, and discipline [cannot] be enforced without significant organization; hence we have ceremony of initiation which binds us in mutual fraternity as with a band of iron; but . . . its application is a gentle as that of the silken thread that binds a wreath of flowers.”28

      Although some people found the Grange’s secrecy distasteful and refused to join or support the Grangers for that reason, others saw it as a necessary means of working out plans without alerting perceived adversaries. Who these adversaries were was not always clear, but presumably they included

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