20190714 BHS History of the Grange Movement
Channel: Woodstock Community Television
Date: 2019-07-15

Much of rural New England in the late19th century was locked in a downward spiral of population decline, abandonment of farms, reversion of cleared land to forest, and shrinking of villages, all of which contributed to widespread feelings of melancholy and loss among its residents. The development of the Grange movement in the 1870s through the 1890s was aided greatly by people's hunger for a new vehicle to draw communities together for social interaction, entertainment, and mutual support.