6-16 IAN Grange Reorganization
Oh home on the range, but maybe no home for the grange. I’m David Sparks and I’ll be right back. Oliver Hudson Kelley was an employee of the Department of Agriculture in the 1860s. He made an official trip through the South and was astounded by the lack of sound agricultural practices he encountered. Joining with other interested individuals in 1867, Kelley formed the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry. Local affiliates were known as "granges" and the members as "grangers." In its early years, the Grange was devoted to educational events and social gatherings.
Farm life in the 19th century was marked by a tedium and isolation that usually was relieved only by church functions and the weekly trips to town for supplies. So the Grange spread rapidly throughout the farm belt, and helped transform the Grange into a political force.
The 106-year-old Cloverleaf Grange has shrunk to 22 members and Donald Billmire, the Idaho State Grange's master says things have to change: “We got to a point where we have to reorganize that grange or revitalize it. That’s a process we’re going through right now.” A lot of 4-H functions are held at granges and we wish him luck.
