The Grange in Texas

The Grange did not fade for lack of ideas. The Handbook of Texas counts 40,000 Texas members in 1876 but only 1,478 in 1893 and nine sub-Granges in 1906. It blames secrecy that politicians called another Know-Nothing party, merchants plotting against its cooperatives, ranchers wary of nesters, the drought of 1885 to 1887, and the rival Farmers' Alliance. Its more lasting ventures included the McGregor experiment farm and a mutual fire insurance association. By 1950, the Handbook says, the order had little influence.

What the plaque says

The Grange in Texas 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)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mother Neff State Park — 10.0 mi
  A Leon River park that grew from six acres Isabella Neff left the state in her 1921 will, where Civilian Conservation Corps Company 817 built a stone tower, a pavilion and roads in the 1930s.
• Waco Mammoth National Monument — 16 mi
  A bone bed on the Bosque River where a nursery herd of at least 19 Columbian mammoths was trapped and drowned by floodwater 65,000 to 72,000 years ago, left in place under a dig shelter.
• Dr Pepper Museum — 17 mi
  The 1906 bottling plant of the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, built where Dr Pepper outgrew a Waco drugstore soda fountain, now the Dr Pepper Museum.
• Armstrong Browning Library — 17 mi
  A three-story Italian Renaissance library on the Baylor campus built to hold A. J. Armstrong's Browning collection, dedicated in December 1951 and now, by its own account, the world's largest of Browning material.

More markers nearby

• McGregor Mirror — 1.9 mi
• McGregor — 1.9 mi
• First Christian Church of McGregor (Disciples of Christ) — 2.0 mi
• First Baptist Church of McGregor — 2.2 mi