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HISTORIAN’S CORNER
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Phelps Grangers
By Don Tiffany
Oliver Hudson Kelley was the father of the National Grange Organization He was a successful Minnesota farmer who was commissioned by President Andrew Johnson in 1866 to report on the condition of the farmers in the Southern states recently devastated by the Civil War. Kelley briefly returned to his Minnesota farm then accepted a position in the Post Office in Washington, D.C. He was so concerned by the state of agriculture and the treatment of the farmers in the South that he, with the help of six other influential men in the Capitol (including William Saunders from the Department of Agriculture who became the first National Master), established the Organization in 1867. Kelley's ties with the Masonic Order influenced the ritual of the Patrons of Husbandry. The organization started slowly but by 1874 it had 268,368 dues-paying members.
One of the precepts was the inclusion of women in the fraternity. They were given full membership including the right to hold every office. This was unique given the mindset of the times. Other basic tenets were that it was to be a Christian organization but non-sectarian and it was to be anti-sectional - favoring no particular part of the country. It endorsed the motto: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; on all things, charity."
By 1875 the National Grange had 858,050 members but it had become too commercial. It had bought grain elevators and mills and started cooperatives to eliminate the middleman. The success caused doctors to join the order to gain patients, lawyers to gain clients and merchants to obtain new customers. Not all of these people were honest and ethical. By the mid-1880s membership had declined to just over 100,000 and by the end of the nineteenth century the Grange was non-existent in the South. To this day there are no Granges in the Deep South.
At the beginning of the 1890s the Grange reorganized itself to become the social, fraternal organization that the founders intended it to be and it began to grow again. While the National Grange is non-partisan it has used its national power to promote legislation for the benefit of the public, especially the farmer. While the Grange was not established to fight the railroads it was successful in gaining fair shipping rates for farmers shipping produce and grain and through its efforts the Interstate Commerce Commission was created.
Through successful lobbying by the Grange, the U.S. Postal Service organized Rural Free Delivery and later parcel post was also included giving rural farmers mail service directly to their homes. The National Grange advocated a graduated income tax prior to the twentieth century. It has always been opposed to corporate farming and government subsidized irrigation in the dry West. It promoted temperance and discouraged the use of tobacco before 1900.
The Grange is built on several levels of organization. The Subordinate (local) Grange confers four degrees on new members who can join at the age of fourteen. These four degrees represent the four seasons of farming. The Pomona (county) Grange confers the fifth degree. State Granges give the sixth degree at their yearly meetings to any member of a Pomona Grange and the National Grange, at their annual convention, grants the seventh degree to any State Grange member.
A local Grange was established in Phelps in 1874 but soon languished and died, probably as a result of the troubles the national organization was experiencing at that time.
A meeting was held in the Oaks Corners Town Hall on October 2, 1889. S.P. Farwell from Rose Hill Grange, Waterloo chaired the meeting and introduced Mr. Whiting from Farmers Village (?) who spoke to the group assembled about the advantages of being a Granger. Frances Farwell is credited with suggesting the name "Enterprise" for this new Grange.
That night twenty people became charter members of Enterprise Grange #597. Charles Holbrook was elected Master but died just three months later. Scoville Shear became Master December 10th of that year and served as Master 9 times during the next 13 years. Enterprise Grange met at the Oaks Corners Town Hall until 1926 when Joel Caves was hired to build a new Grange Hall next door for a cost of $4500. A Juvenile Grange was instituted in 1931. They met there until the mid-1980s when Enterprise Grange #597 closed its doors.
During its almost 100 years of existence it was an enterprising, active organization. Enterprise Grange was noted for its minstrel shows during the middle of the twentieth century - at first held in the Grange Hall and later, in collaboration with the Oaks Corners Church, at the Hitching Shed adjacent to the church. It was also well known for dances, dinners and its degree team.
Twenty-seven farmers and their wives tried again in 1891 to establish a Grange in Phelps. They assembled in the Town Hall on March 17 of that year and were successful, especially with the admonition from Mrs. William Hicks that, "Everyone will have to keep "wide awake" so we don't die this time," Thus Wide Awake Grange #747 was born. P.S. Rogers, who was first elected to the office in 1874, was again elected their first Master. The names of some of the charter members are still familiar today - Peck, Salisbury, Gifford, and Seager. Enterprise Grange members installed the new officers of Wide Awake Grange. It received its charter on March 26, 1891.
During the first year the membership increased to 72. Meetings were held in the Odd Fellows Hall, the Maccabees Hall in the Crothers (now DeBaere) Block, the F.A.R. Hall and Gibson Hall. Wide Awake Grange - Master, Maurice Warner - purchased the Loney (Ross) Block in 1912 and met there for the next 39 years. This is the business block at the northeast corner of Main and Exchange Streets. This block was sold by the Grange in 1951 - Master, Erwin Spafford - and the building called Guiseppe's Restaurant at Five Waters was purchased and Wide Awake Grange has met there to this day; over 50 years!
Membership has ebbed and flowed over the last half century. A vote was taken in 1908 to accept members "not generally engaged in agriculture" which resulted in a substantial increase in members during the later years. The highpoint in membership was reached in 1947 when 310 people belonged. A quorum was established and a few meetings were canceled for lack of a quorum, but many times there were meetings with 70 to 200 Grangers present. There were 61 members listed at the 100th anniversary in 1991. Many families that were listed on the rolls 60-70 years ago are still active in Wide Awake Grange - Adams, Willson, Salisbury and Howard.
Over the years the Grange has had oyster feasts, ice cream socials, strawberry festivals, maple syrup feasts, summer picnics, a box social and baking contests. Discussions are held at every meeting. Topics covered have included growing and marketing of various fruits, vegetable and grain corps and dairy products. Other concerns covered were rural roads, rural schools, rural mail delivery and laws affecting the farmer. Not just agricultural and rural subjects but problems concerning the whole community too - war efforts, daylight saving time, school centralization, atomic power and even the paving of Main Street were covered at different times.
The name "Grange" has always brought memories of country square dances, delicious dinners and County Fair exhibits, but Wide Awake Grange has, in recent years, become involved in community affairs. Its members have held roast beef dinners, chicken barbeques and chicken and biscuit dinners to raise money for the benefit of the Phelps Community Library, the Phelps Historical Society and many other organizations. These efforts, along with yard sales, bake sales and rental of their hall have helped Wide Awake Grange maintain their building both inside and out.
While many Granges have closed their doors for myriad reasons during the last two decades, Wide Awake has survived. Wide Awake Grange was chosen to become an "Action Grange" in 2001. This has brought changes to Grange policy. A password is no longer required to enter meetings, which are now open to the public, and the ritual has been simplified. However, only members can vote. Now the Master is called President. The President for 2004-05 is Sarah Lamb. A vision statement was written for the new "action grange" - "Our Grange is in a rural area. Therefore, our vision is to be a support for rural living in a modern-day world by combining old with new ideas and by working with schools and other community organizations. By doing this, we hope to gain new members through fellowship and programs that will educate, inform, enlighten, enrich and entertain."
Wide Awake Grange #747 certainly is following its aims and will be an asset to the community in which it serves. Hopefully some of its younger members will be around to celebrate their 150th anniversary.
(Many thanks to Betty Fox and Florence Jeffery for their histories of Wide Awake Grange and J. Seymour Dolittle who wrote about Enterprise Grange. Thanks to Charlotte Howard, Naomi VanCamp and Nellie Keller for their help in gathering some of the facts. Also to Bert Willson who is part of the history of both Enterprise and Wide Awake Granges.)
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