Reviving the Grange

Grange halls, like the one in the Anderson Valley in California’s Mendocino County, have been around for more than 150 years. The Grange began as a fraternal organization for farmers, reaching its peak in the 1950s, with more than 850,000 members. In the decades since, Grange membership dropped dramatically, along with the number of working farmers, even as many rural towns continued to rely on Grange halls as community centers. 

In recent years, that decline has reversed, as the National Grange has seen its membership grow incrementally — a sign that in some rural communities, at least, people are seeing the Grange as a way to connect with and support one another. Starting about 15 years ago, there was a lot of tension within California granges. Rifts opened over values, leadership, and property, and many groups in California broke away from the National Grange. Now, California has 120 Granges, and in the last year alone, seven Granges opened — some new, others revived or reorganized. 

The story of the Anderson Valley Grange may offer a model for other communities experiencing tension—political or otherwise. In the 1970s and ’80s, Mendocino County became popular with back-to-the-landers. Many Anderson Valley old-timers — often ranchers or loggers — disapproved of their new neighbors, but both groups frequently used the local Grange hall, one of the only affordable places to hold events. When the hall burned down, these strange bedfellows came together to rebuild. 

Erich Jonas, a member of the Anderson Valley Grange, said it’s still a place that brings people together. “Whether it’s doing a holiday dinner or … hosting a local food bank, it’s a place where people can do what’s most natural to us, which is focus on our cooperative dynamics and community.”