This secret fraternal society had mostly local branches, called Granges, in Minnesota, the hometown of the founder, Oliver Kelley. Its members were known as Grangers. The local Granges would meet in town halls. They were a way for farmer families to meet and socialize. In 1868, the movement spread to Illinois and the Granges eventually formed into political forums and grew as channels of farmer protest against economic

After 1876 the Greenback party, the Farmers' Alliance, and the Populist Party took on the role of agrarian protest. The Granger Movement backed off and took over its original roll, as purely social organizations.

In 1873, a National Depression set in. National railroads had to cut back on services, and because of their power, would secretly over-weigh the grain and charge farmers too much. Farmers had funded for much of the railroad construction in the 1850s, so the railroads also controlled the 14 main grain elevators in the country. The railroads did find themselves responsible for telling the farmers how much grain was in storage, so the debts grew as the grain crops vanished. Coops were formed to try and correct these abuses. They were successf

Some common words found in the essay are:
National Depression, Illinois Granges, Populist Party, Oliver Kelley, Granger Movement, Anti-Monopoly Party, Munn Illinois, Kelley Grangers, Farmers' Alliance, Granges Minnesota, granger movement, grain elevators, political forums, oliver kelley, populist party, farmers' alliance,
Approximate Word count = 511
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)