The Grange in Texas

Duane's take

Here's my telling of the official marker for the Grange in Texas, straight off the historical record. Now, you want to talk about an organization that quietly shaped the state of Texas more than most folks ever give it credit for, well, pull up close to this fire and listen. The Grange.

Full name: the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. It was a nonpartisan national organization, and the whole point of it was farmers. Farmers banding together to establish economic independence, to socialize, to give their families greater educational opportunities.

They garnered political attention. They lobbied for the advancement and unity of America's agricultural sector. And in Texas, they did not waste a single minute.

The first Texas Grange organized at Salado in 1873, under a man named R.A. Baird, a deputy from the national Grange. Now you plant one seed in good soil and watch what happens.

The Texas State Grange set up its headquarters in Dallas, and by 1876, that single seed had grown into a membership of forty thousand men, women, and children, belonging to one thousand two hundred and seventy-five lodges across Texas and Indian Territory, which later became Oklahoma. Forty thousand. Let that settle.

And these were not quiet people. Grange members showed up to the state's Constitutional Convention of 1875, and their positions on taxing, railroad regulation, and homestead protection were approved. Farmers, sitting at the table where the rules of Texas were being written.

That is not nothing. But here is where the story gets its longest legs. The Grange's lasting legacy, the thing the marker itself calls out above all else, was their dedication to improving the public education system.

They advocated for the establishment of the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, later Texas A&M University, the state's first public institution of higher learning. Grange master Archibald J. Rose served as chairman of the Texas A&M board of regents from 1888 to 1896.

The men and women pushing plows helped build the university that would teach the next generation how to push them better, and smarter, and farther. And they kept working. The Grange developed agricultural cooperatives.

They built a member insurance association. They published the Texas Farmer newspaper. Then in 1889, the Texas State Grange Fair Association pulled off something you can still picture if you close your eyes.

They created a four-hundred-acre experimental farm and exhibition hall in McGregor. Developed along the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway tracks, near Harris Creek, those grounds became the site of annual state fairs, encampments, and all manner of gatherings for several years. Four hundred acres of Texas soil set aside for farmers to learn, to show their work, to come together.

There is a kind of poetry in that, even if the soil doesn't sing it out loud. The Grange continues today, though with decreased membership and influence. The big noisy chapter of the story is quieter now.

But forty thousand voices once echoed across one thousand two hundred and seventy-five lodges, and the university they fought for is still standing, and the constitutional provisions they pushed through are still part of how this state runs. Sometimes the seed outlives the planting by a good long while.

What the marker says

The Grange, also known as the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, was a nonpartisan national organization comprised of farmers to establish economic independence, socialization and greater educational opportunities for families. They garnered political attention and lobbied for the advancement and unity of America's agricultural sector. The first Texas Grange organized at Salado in 1873 under R.A. Baird, a deputy from the national Grange. The Texas State Grange had its headquarters in Dallas, and by 1876 counted membership of 40,000 men, women and children belonging to 1,275 lodges in Texas and Indian Territory (later Oklahoma). Grange members were influential in the state's Constitutional Convention of 1875, where their positions on taxing, railroad regulation and homestead protection were approved. The Grange's lasting legacy was their dedication to improving the public education system. They advocated for the establishment of the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College (later Texas A&M University), the state's first public institution of higher learning. Grange master Archibald J. Rose was chairman of the Texas A&M board of regents from 1888-96. The development of agricultural cooperatives, a member insurance association and publication of Texas Farmer newspaper were also important Grange activities. In 1889, the Texas State Grange Fair Association was successful in the creation of a 400-acre experimental farm and exhibition hall in McGregor. Developed along the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway tracks near Harris Creek, the grounds became the site of annual state fairs, encampments and other gatherings for several years. The Grange continues today but with decreased membership and influence. (2019)