Before social media feeds and group chats, rural America already had a place where people argued about politics, shared tips, and organized big community events it was called the Grange Hall.
The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry (mercifully shortened to “the Grange”) began in 1867 and quickly became the go-to grassroots organization for farmers, families, and small towns across the United States.
Over time, the Grange attracted an impressive roster of members: presidents, first ladies, artists, governors, and even the bass player from Nirvana.
This famous National Grange members list doesn’t just name-drop; it shows how one rural, fraternal organization helped shape American politics, culture, and everyday life.
What Is the National Grange?
The National Grange was founded in Washington, D.C., right after the Civil War. Its mission was simple but powerful: help farmers band together to improve their economic prospects, protect their political interests, and build stronger communities.
It fought for things like fair railroad rates, rural free mail delivery, and better access to agricultural education all issues that were life-or-death for small farmers trying to survive in a rapidly industrializing country.
The Grange is unique among 19th-century organizations because it welcomed women and teenagers as full members.
At a time when many clubs were men-only, women could hold key offices and lead local chapters.
Grange Halls also doubled as community centers: part town meeting, part dance floor, part classroom, and part mutual-aid society.
Today, the Grange is still active nationwide. Membership has shrunk compared with its 19th-century peak, but local Granges continue hosting events, advocating on rural issues, and keeping a sense of community alive in small towns and farming regions.
Why Did Famous People Join the Grange?
So why did presidents, artists, and political leaders sign up with an organization best known for potlucks and hay bales?
- Rural roots: Many well-known members grew up in farm communities or represented rural states. Joining the Grange was an authentic way to stay connected to their base.
- Grassroots power: The Grange was an early master of “bottom-up” politics. Local members drafted resolutions that could rise all the way to the national level, influencing legislation.
- Community credibility: Supporting the Grange signaled that a public figure cared about farmers, small towns, and everyday families not just big-city interests.
- Shared values: The organization promoted education, civic engagement, cooperation, and family life values that resonated across the political spectrum.
With that in mind, let’s look at some of the most famous National Grange members and what their membership says about the organization’s reach and influence.
Famous National Grange Members List
This isn’t every notable Grange member in history, but it highlights some of the most recognizable names the people who brought national-level fame to a very grassroots organization.
Franklin D. Roosevelt – The New Deal Farmer-in-Chief
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, is best known for leading the country through the Great Depression and World War II.
Less widely known is his connection to the Grange. His membership aligned naturally with his political base: rural communities and small farmers were crucial supporters of the New Deal.
Many New Deal programs farm credit reforms, rural electrification, and price supports addressed the very issues Grange members had been complaining about since the 1800s.
Roosevelt’s Grange membership symbolized his understanding that national recovery had to include the family farm, not just Wall Street and big industry.
Harry S. Truman – A Missouri Farmer in the White House
Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president, came to politics with real farm dirt under his fingernails.
Before stepping into national office, Truman grew up on a Missouri farm, and his connection to agricultural life stayed with him long after he traded overalls for suits.
His membership in the Grange reflected that identity. Truman’s plainspoken style, his concern for rural infrastructure, and his support for agricultural programs meshed perfectly with Grange values.
To many Grangers, Truman wasn’t just “Mr. President” he was one of them.
Eleanor Roosevelt – First Lady, Reform Champion, and Granger
Eleanor Roosevelt didn’t simply stand beside power; she used her own voice to promote social justice, labor rights, and human dignity.
As First Lady, she traveled the country, listening to ordinary Americans and bringing their concerns back to Washington.
Her involvement with the Grange fit those instincts. The organization gave her direct contact with rural people, especially women, who were often sidelined in political life.
In a movement that valued education, discussion, and community problem-solving, Eleanor found a natural partner in her broader fight for equality and opportunity.
Norman Rockwell – Painting the People He Lived Among
Norman Rockwell, the artist who practically defined “small-town America” in popular culture, didn’t just imagine those scenes he lived them.
He and his wife Mary joined a local Grange in Vermont, where they participated like any other members: attending meetings, joining social events, and helping with community efforts.
Rockwell’s membership speaks volumes about how deeply the Grange was woven into rural life.
When he painted farmers at fairs, kids at parades, or neighbors gathered in town halls, he wasn’t inventing a fantasy. He was documenting a world he saw firsthand one in which the Grange Hall was often the beating heart of the community.
Krist Novoselic – From Grunge to Grange
Yes, that Krist Novoselic the tall, low-key bassist from Nirvana is a modern Grange member.
After the whirlwind of 1990s rock fame, he settled into rural life in Washington State and became active in his local Grange, even helping lead a chapter.
Novoselic’s involvement shows how flexible the Grange can be. Far from being a dusty relic, it gave him a platform for community activism, rural preservation, and democratic reform.
At one point he jokingly ran for office on a self-declared “Grange Party” ticket as a way to protest Washington’s ballot rules proving that the organization can intersect with both politics and pop culture in unexpected ways.
Caroline Hall – The Quiet Architect of Inclusion
When people list the founders of the Grange, they often start with Oliver Hudson Kelley.
But Caroline Hall Kelley’s niece played a pivotal role and is now recognized as an honorary eighth founder of the organization.
Hall strongly advocated that women be admitted as equal members, not just “auxiliaries” tagging along behind their husbands.
Because of her influence, the Grange built women’s leadership into its structure from the very beginning, reserving several offices specifically for women.
That decision made the Grange stand out among 19th-century organizations and helped attract reformers, educators, and suffragists to its ranks.
Norman Jay Coleman – The First U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
Norman Jay Coleman served as the first U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and was also active in the Grange.
His career reflected the organization’s core belief that government should take rural needs seriously, not just treat agriculture as an afterthought.
Coleman’s work in federal office helped elevate agriculture to cabinet-level importance.
That shift reinforced what Grangers had argued for decades: that the health of farms and small towns is inseparable from the health of the nation.
Robert Bergland and Charles F. Brannan – Secretaries of Agriculture with Grange Roots
Robert Bergland (Secretary of Agriculture under President Jimmy Carter) and Charles F. Brannan (who served under President Harry Truman) are both listed among notable Grange members.
Each brought a Grange-style perspective into federal policy: practical, farmer-centered, and skeptical of unchecked corporate power.
Their careers show how the Grange served as a kind of leadership school.
Members learned parliamentary procedure, public speaking, and policy analysis at local meetings skills that translated surprisingly well to cabinet rooms and congressional hearings.
Gifford Pinchot – Conservationist and Governor
Gifford Pinchot is best remembered as a pioneering conservationist and the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service, as well as governor of Pennsylvania.
His association with the Grange makes perfect sense: both he and the organization shared a long-term view that land, water, and forests should be managed for the public good, not just quick profit.
For rural communities, conservation wasn’t an abstract environmental ideal it was about protecting the fields, forests, and waters they depended on.
Pinchot’s connection to the Grange highlights how environmental stewardship and agricultural life have always been closely linked.
Mary Elizabeth Lease – “Raise Less Corn and More Hell”
Populist orator Mary Elizabeth Lease, a Grange member in Kansas, became famous for urging farmers to “raise less corn and more hell.”
She captured the anger of small farmers crushed by low crop prices, railroad monopolies, and debt.
Lease’s activism, speeches, and organizing work helped push the Grange and other farm movements toward more aggressive political action.
She bridged the gap between fraternal ritual in the Grange Hall and fiery speeches on the public stage, showing how the organization could nurture bold voices for reform.
Abigail Scott Duniway, Clara Waldo, and Mark Hatfield – Oregon’s Notable Grangers
In Oregon, the Grange produced its own cluster of famous names:
- Abigail Scott Duniway – a suffragist and newspaper editor who fought tirelessly for women’s voting rights in the Pacific Northwest.
- Clara Waldo – a supporter of women’s rights and the first woman appointed to a university Board of Regents in the United States.
- Mark Hatfield – an educator, governor of Oregon, and long-serving U.S. senator.
Their involvement with the Grange shows how the organization extended far beyond crop prices.
It was a networking hub for education reform, women’s rights, and broad social change in the rural West.
How the Grange Shaped American Life
Looking down this famous members list, a pattern emerges: the Grange punched far above its weight in American public life.
- Policy wins: Grange advocacy helped secure railroad regulation, rural free delivery of mail, and support systems like agricultural education and cooperative services.
- Social change: By welcoming women and young people as full members, the Grange modeled a more inclusive civic culture long before it was fashionable.
- Cultural impact: From Rockwell’s paintings to Novoselic’s modern activism, Grangers have shaped how Americans imagine rural life not as something backward, but as a source of resilience and creativity.
In short, the Grange helped ensure that rural voices were heard in debates over economics, infrastructure, and democracy itself.
How to Explore Grange History Yourself
If this list has you curious, there are lots of ways to dig deeper into Grange history and its famous members:
- Visit a local Grange Hall: Many are still active and host public events, community dinners, farmers markets, craft fairs, and educational programs.
- Check state and local Grange websites: They often maintain brief histories of notable members in each region, plus digitized photos and archives.
- Look up family connections: Because membership stretches back to the 1800s, genealogists often discover parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents who were Grangers.
- Explore historical societies: County and state historical societies frequently preserve meeting minutes, membership rolls, and artifacts from Grange Halls.
The more you look, the more you realize that the Grange is one of those hidden threads quietly stitching together American history.
Reflections and Experiences Around the Famous National Grange Members List
Spending time with the stories behind this famous National Grange members list feels a bit like walking into an old Grange Hall on meeting night.
At first, you notice the obvious things the creaky wooden floor, the faded banners, the rows of folding chairs.
But as you listen longer, you realize the room holds an almost overwhelming mix of lives and perspectives.
On one side, you might imagine Franklin Roosevelt’s policies echoing in debates about farm credit and price supports.
On another, you can picture Mary Elizabeth Lease channeling frustration into action, convincing neighbors that their anger wasn’t a personal failing but a political issue.
Meanwhile, Norman Rockwell could easily be sketching the scene, and Krist Novoselic might be helping set up the sound system for a benefit concert at the same hall.
What makes the Grange particularly compelling is how ordinary it feels up close.
Famous names on this list didn’t float above the membership; they were part of the same basic structure as everyone else: local meetings, motions, votes, committees, and community projects.
A U.S. president or cabinet official who walked into a Grange Hall had to follow the same order of business as a dairy farmer or a high-school student just learning parliamentary procedure.
If you attend a modern Grange event today, you’ll see versions of the same experience playing out.
You might meet someone who remembers attending dances in the 1950s, when the Grange Hall was the hottest ticket in town.
Another member may talk about organizing a food drive, a scholarship fund, or broadband-access campaign for rural families.
When they mention that “oh, by the way, Norman Rockwell used to be in our local Grange” or “a U.S. senator once held membership here,” it doesn’t come across as bragging just another detail from a long, shared story.
This is where the famous National Grange members list becomes more than trivia.
It’s a reminder that big national changes often grow from small, familiar spaces.
A suffrage leader like Abigail Scott Duniway might have started her day milking cows, then gone to a Grange meeting that evening to plan her next editorial or speech on women’s rights.
A future senator like Mark Hatfield may have first learned to speak in public by giving short talks at his local Grange.
For anyone exploring rural history, civic engagement, or family roots, the Grange is a powerful example of how community organizations quietly shape the future.
Its famous members became governors, presidents, artists, and advocates but they also remained Grangers: people committed to improving life where they lived, one meeting, one motion, and one neighborly favor at a time.
In that sense, the National Grange is less about the names on this list and more about what those names represent:
the idea that ordinary communities, organized around shared values and mutual support, can produce extraordinary leadership and lasting change.
Conclusion
The famous National Grange members list shows how a seemingly modest rural organization became a surprisingly influential force in American life.
From presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman to cultural icons like Norman Rockwell and Krist Novoselic, the Grange has drawn people who care about community, democracy, and the future of the family farm.
Whether you’re exploring your genealogy, studying American history, or just curious how small-town institutions shape big national stories, the Grange is worth a closer look.
Behind every famous member is a web of neighbors, local leaders, and unsung volunteers who kept the lights on in those halls and in many places, still do.
