The Mud Springs Grange No. 619 doesn't look like much from the outside but after doing a little digging online, I was able to locate a neat article from the
highlighting its rich history. I discovered after reading the article that this grange hall was once a former bank and was originally located in the nearby town of Metolius. I've bolded the pertinent information from the article and it reads:
Grange began as farmers' co-op
Vendors hock their wares at the monthly Mud Springs Grange flea market in Madras the second weekend of each month. While vendors are selling everything from antiques to handcrafted wood products. Grange members are busy in the kitchen serving home-style meals.
Seeing so much activity in the old Grange hall brings back memories for the old-timers of whole days spent at the Grange, old-fashioned potlucks and fellowship with neighbors. In their busy farm lives sometimes this was the only time to visit neighbors.
From humble roots, the Grange was the dream of the visionary.
Oliver Kelley, and in 1860 his vision became reality. He saw that the farmers' world was changing and the agrarian way had to be preserved and farmers needed to catch up with the economic times. He came to the conclusion that cooperative buying power was a necessity.
The number of Granges across the country grew from 10 in 1868 to 1,108 in 1872.
Once the only social outlet for small, rural communities, today the Grange has a great deal of competition for its services and younger people tend to bypass it for other organizations.
But for the older generation it remains a place to visit with longtime friends and serve the community at large. A few rural Granges still hold their Saturday night dance and midnight potluck. One such Grange is located in North Plains, east of Hillsboro, Oregon.
Local member Evelyn Markgraf, 87, has been a member of the Grange for 64 years beginning in Glenwood, Wash. and later in Carson, Wash. before joining the Mud Springs Grange in 1956.
"I'm worried about the Grange becoming obsolete," says Markgraf. "We need young members. We have a difficult time getting people to participate."
Eighty years ago a group of farmers and their wives met at the Mud Springs schoolhouse in Paxton with the intent of forming a Grange. With 37 charter members this goal was accomplished. They wanted to form a co-op of buying power for whatever they needed, be it grain sacks or canning jars. They realized if they went together and bought for the whole group they would get more for their money.
The Grange is a nonalcoholic, nonpartisan, family-oriented organization and was one of the first organizations to welcome women and children.
"It was the first group to consider women as equals," says longtime member Wanda Sykes. "Women are not an auxiliary, but can be elected officers of the Grange." In the beginning it came from the premise that everybody works on a farm and everybody is equal.
For many years Grange meetings consisted of debating issues pertaining to agriculture and they worked through state and national offices to lobby for agricultural changes.
The Grange building itself has a rich history. It was once the citizens State Bank of Metolius, before it was moved in 1937 by tractor, skidded on snow from Metolius to its present location in Madras.
In 1957 the Grange purchased and moved the old Grizzly Grange Hall kitchen for an addition to their kitchen. H.L. Mauret built nine tables for the dining hall and Arthur Sykes built new kitchen cabinets.
In the beginning the Grange had annual events for the community, such as the Ham Dinner and Carnival. They held food sales, card parties, picnics and did a great deal of promotion for the county and state fairs. Today the monthly flea market and homemade meals is a staple.
The Home Economics Club held sewing contests and there were yearly canning and homemaking skill competitions.
Wanda Sykes remembers the U.S. army soldiers used the Grange building for living quarters and a mess hall during WWII.
Grange meetings are held twice a month on the second and fourth Tuesdays and these meetings center around a lecture program. They focus on education, inspiration and recreation, "food, fun and friendship," that's what we are all about, says Sykes.
Portland, Oregon is to host this year's National Grange Convention in November. Besides holding delegate sessions and degree work, there will be social activities for all Grange members.
Next April, Mud Springs Grange will celebrate its 80th anniversary. ~Article published 08 October 2002
Madras was once home to a B-17 and P-38 World War II Fighter Training Base and it's neat to think this old grange hall once served many GIs during the war. Metolius is located just a few miles SW of here so the building didn't have too far to move.