Social Organizations

Participation in local organizations helped farmers and other valley residents address issues that affected their lives. Many farmers were members of the Grange, the oldest national agricultural organization supporting rural communities. In the years after the Civil War, the Grange developed to help protect and improve the lives of America's farmers. The Grange has also worked to promote rural education, improve transportation and access to health care, and protect natural resources. The organization united farmers and provided resources for farming security and sustainability. Today, the Grange focuses more broadly on community service.

Other social organizations helped farmers and their families address concerns and implement changes to benefit local rural communities. Women's Farm Club No. 1, in Bath, was a female-led social club for farmers' wives. The club gave women an outlet for talking about important issues and built bonds between members.

 

4-H club programs came to Ohio in 1902, and introduced new agricultural technologies to farming communities. These clubs also gave rural youths an opportunity to participate in fun and educational group activities. Above, a young boy looks over the rule book for a 4-H sponsored county fair competition.

Courtesy/Cleveland Press Collection

 

• Women's Farm Club No. 1

  
  

  Pat Morse, whose mother was a member of Women's Farm Club No. 1, remembers club activities and events during the 1930s and 40s.
  Audio Transcript

  The women met once a month and they did, I would say, they studied progress and farming, being farmer’s wives, I would say, with canning and sewing and that kind of thing. Oh, and the other thing they did was, each year they had a big picnic at the end of the year. I don’t know how this evolved, but all of us kids had to put on a play to entertain them, and we just loved that. It was such fun. And you’d meet at different peoples’ homes each year. And they were very large gatherings at that time.

 

• The Grange

  
  

  Hazel Broughton, former resident of Everett, describes the purpose and history of the Grange, a service club supporting rural communities.
  Audio Transcript

  The original Grange was formed in 1867 following the Civil War. And it was started because of the unruliness between the states and agriculture and Washington. So they fashioned it after a rural organization for farmers to, mainly, get their ideas to together to be able function and raise crops and livestock. Now, it is mainly a community service. We still are rural-minded, but it’s past its prime. But we have a national Grange, we have a state Grange, we have a local Grange, and now we have four Granges in Summit County, of which when I started they were twelve, and I am Summit County Pomona Master, which is the county. Unfortunately, younger people today, families, do not join Grange anymore. There’s too many other things to join. So it’s fading.

  One thing I’d like to say about the Grange: They were the instigator for rural delivery of mail. They were instigator in free lunches in schools. While they didn’t do it, they pushed it. They pushed it from the rural standpoint. So you can see that it’s been important. And we do do a lot for community service. We work in connection with our communities, and Deaf, Deaf is our project. Deaf, for the Deaf schools in Ohio, especially down around Columbus where we have the Columbus deaf school. It’s local, and I’m proud of it.

 

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