Pictured here is the Winona Grange Hall in Tualatin. (Submitted by Nancy Dunis)

“Your organization will not succeed unless you provide an equal place and voice for women,” Caroline Arabella Hall proclaimed.

Hall was one of the eight co-founders of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry — whew that’s a mouthful. Thanks to her, the National Grange became the first organization on a national level to make sure that women were included in leadership roles at the outset. Hall felt strongly that since family farming included women, then it followed that women should be as active as men in a family-oriented organization. Oliver Kelley, Hall’s uncle, a farmer in Minnesota, spearheaded the founding of the National Grange in 1867 along with six male colleagues from the U.S. Bureau of Agriculture. Although Hall was the only woman of the eight co-founders, her influence was significant and strongly felt. For many years she served as her uncle’s assistant.

Kelley’s vision: create an organization that would advocate for and educate farmers and their families, enrich their social lives and provide community service. By 1873, only six years after its inception, Grange membership had grown to nearly 700,000 members in 9,000 chapters nationwide. Tualatin’s Winona Grange, organized in 1895 by 24 local farm families, was one of Oregon’s first.

The founding families chose the name “Winona” to honor the deceased eldest daughter of J.R.C. Thompson.

Winona Grange plays an active role in the Tualatin community today. Every fourth Sunday starting in May, continuing through September 2025 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Winona Grange is hosting a community gathering market, reflecting the essence of what a Grange is all about: support local farmers and artisans, enjoy freshly prepared food, listen to live entertainment and enjoy Grange Kids Club activities. Winona Grange Gathering Market is a family-friendly event. And it’s free.

For years I wondered what a Grange was? I thought it was a collection of those gigantic corrugated-looking, round storage tanks I often saw in farmers’ fields. Wrong? Not entirely. The word “grange” comes from the medieval Latin word granica, meaning grain house or farm.

Steeped in history, Winona Grange’s backstory goes something like this: J.R.C. Thompson provided space above his store for the first Grange meetings, which were held the third Saturday of every month. After renting space above Thompson’s store for the first few years, members voted to build their own two-story building. Started in 1939 and completed in 1940, the wood came from the Merrill Pennington property.

“Tualatin High School now occupies the Pennington property,” says current Grange Master (president) Marilyn Reiher.

Merrill Pennington, a farmer and a carpenter, peeled the wooden beams visible in the building himself, as well as supervised construction of the entire project. In keeping with Caroline Hall’s vision to involve women and the Grange’s adherence to that, Pennington’s wife served as master (president) of the Winona Grange and oversaw the raising the money to fund the building.

Some of the first Grange members included Edward Byrom (after whom the elementary school is named); William Jurgens (after whom Jurgens Park and Avenue are named); and Laura Thompson, a 19-year old teacher who served as the first secretary and later became Tualatin’s postmistress.

One of Winona’s most popular activities is the garden seed project. The Grange distributes vegetable, herb and flower seeds to other Granges, community gardens, food banks, libraries. Two other longstanding popular projects are the Seeds and Bees event in the spring and in the fall the Harvest Festival. Their mission: provide opportunities for community service; maintain local advocacy for agriculture; and welcome the community into the Grange Hall for educational and social events. Winona’s doors are open to all; you don’t have to be a farmer.