Site of California's First Grange Hall

California's first Grange was organized by correspondence. A. A. Bayley read about the Patrons of Husbandry in the summer of 1870, wrote to the national secretary in Minnesota for particulars, and was given a special commission because nobody in the state held one. Pilot Hill Grange No. 1 chartered on August 10 with twenty-nine members, the first on the Pacific Coast. The hall itself came later, and the plaque dates its dedication to 1880 where the register and the Grange both say 1889. The bronze standing here is a 2016 replacement; the original was stolen.

What the plaque says

California's First Grange Hall Pilot Hill Grange No. 1, of 29 charter members: Master, F. D. Brown; Secretary, A. J. Bayley: was organized August 10, 1870. The Grange Hall, dedicated at this site November 23, 1880, was built by Alcander A. Bayley. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 551 Plaque dedicated May 20, 1956 by Pilot Hill Grange No. 1 in cooperation with the California State Park Commission. Plaque replaced and rededicated on May 7, 2016 by the Historical Preservation Foundation of the Native Sons of the Golden West in a collaborative effort with Pilot Hill Grange #1.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park — 7.9 mi
  The tailrace at Coloma where a carpenter found gold in January 1848 and the world came running.
• Empire Mine State Historic Park — 25 mi
  The oldest, deepest, richest hard-rock gold mine in California, with 367 miles of flooded tunnels underneath.

More markers nearby

• Mountain Quarries Railroad Bridge — 5.0 mi
• Greenwood — 6.6 mi
• Gold Discovery Site — 7.2 mi
• Coloma Road-Coloma — 7.2 mi