By Kimberly Mayer
I may be the last person on island to get to know the Grange. In the rural town in Connecticut where I grew up, #199 Grange was a large colonial building in the landscape, as formidable and mysterious to me as Knights of Columbus, Elks Club, Shriners, and the Masonic Temple. I thought them all men’s clubs. Secret societies complete with handshakes, robes, hoods, and who knows what? I never entered any of them. The official name of the Grange is National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. You can imagine the thoughts that went through the mind of a thirteen year old girl with the word “husbandry.”
Many miles and many years later, along comes my good neighbor on San Juan Island, Washington, and what does he do in moving here but join the local Grange #966. “I’m channeling my great grandfather, James William Abert Wright,” he told me at the time. In the aftermath of The Civil War, JWA Wright left a decimated Alabama for the San Joaquin Valley, the breadbasket of California. And there, as an educated man, teacher, lawyer, writer, and later editor at San Francisco Daily Evening Post, he became an early Grange organizer. The Declaration of Purposes of the National Grange, a treatise which was adopted by the St. Louis session of the National Grange in 1874 and still stands today, was penned by my neighbor’s great grandfather, JWA Wright.
As a young girl I was wrong about so many things. For one, women have always been admitted membership and held leadership roles in the Grange. Even before they had the right to vote nationally, women enjoyed full vote and voice here. Turns out the Grange was progressive. And as the most powerful farming organization in the country, it was a significant force in the national struggle for women suffrage.
In the Connecticut town where I grew up Grange #199 no longer exists. Membership has declined nationally, but Washington, it turns out, has the largest membership of any state.
The mission statement of San Juan Island Grange #966 is “To support a resilient community of growers, makers, and keepers; to foster social and political engagement; and to maintain our hall as a home for celebrations and programs.” Today this is expressed in gamer nights, workshops, meetings, Repair Fairs, and Monday Night Contra Dance—where my neighbor is a regular. Back in the day, the social isolation of farmers is something the Grange always addressed. In the advancement of agriculture, the Grange valued the needs of family members. Halls were designed with a stage for musicians, an open floor for dancing, and benches along the walls. Meeting, greeting, courting, socializing, and raising families.
One doesn’t even have to be a farmer to join The Grange.
Originally published October 19, 2024 in The Journal of the San Juan Islands .
a little elbow room
a little elbow room 
Dear Cousin Kim – I love this! I remember The Grange in Suffield…and also that I had no idea what went on there. They sponsored one of the Little League teams that I played against. I played for Rotary (of course) and The Grange was our arch enemy.
Then, of course, there’s the famous song by ZZ Top (La Grange), but I don’t think it has anything to do with husbandry. Quite the opposite, in all likelihood.
I’m sorry that the Suffied Grange is extinct (I didn’t know), but very glad that your local Grange is flourishing.
Much Love, Gig
Did we know then what a rural town we lived in? And isn’t it sad now if Suffield is losing some of that?
I loved everything I learned about the Grange in writing this. Like you, I had no idea.
Love Love Love this!
And YOu!
Katie
Love you too. I think we both saw it in each other when we went away to school: a couple of Rebeccas of Sunnybrook Farm.
Kim,
Well I’ll be! I didn’t know anything about these organizations and didn’t even wonder about them. I too thought they were old school men’s clubs.
Lesson 1: Be curious. Ask questions.
Lesson 2: Try not to make assumptions based on limited and/or no actual knowledge
Thank you,
Beth
Saving the real kicker for you. Who do you guess might be The Grange’s most prominent female member ever? None other than Eleanor Roosevelt!
When I started my column, “The Nature of Things,” last year in The Journal of the San Juan Islands, I made Eleanor my role model. After all, she wrote a syndicated newspaper column, “My Day,” from 1935 to 1962. And every time our paths cross in any way, such as on the subject of The Grange, I feel a little validated.
Eleanor Roosevelt is a good role model for all of us.
We need her wisdom and leadership.
Dear Kim,
Wonderful memories return of my grandfather’s membership in the Grange
in Upstate New York. He received a beautiful 18k ‘badge of honor’ for
his dedication. I had planned to wear it on my blazer lapel but was told
by a local Mason it would not be appropriate. I gave the pin to our
local Grange. By the way, my grandfather’s name was Karl Wright. He grew
up in Pennyslvania, a self-taught architect and worked in a hardware
store in Binghamton, NY similar to the one at the end of Commercial
Avenue in Anacortes. I need to investigate whether his Grange building
is still standing. I doubt the beautiful building remains as our
community went through urban renewal in the 50’s and we lost our ‘soul’
to development. Reminds me of Joni Mitchell’s song…”they paved
paradise. And pu0t0 up a parking lot..”
oxoxo
What a great story, and I think it would have been entirely appropriate for you to wear your grandfather’s badge of honor from the Grange on your lapel.
I’d like to introduce you to our neighbor to see if your grandfather, Karl Wright, and JWA Wright might have been related. In which case you would be too.
wow I missed the grange completely. Must have been that I grew up in a manufacturing town in Ct great history lesson
In which case there are so many other stories, Ruth. I think of all the wonderful Richard Russo novels I curled up with, set in manufacturing towns of the Northeast after the Industrial Revolution. Empire Falls, The Risk Pool, Nobody’s Fool, and Bridge of Sighs, to name a few.