Posted on 04/20/2004 8:54:25 PM PDT by farmfriend
National Grange has Dedication Ceremony for New Plaque on Grange Building
Washington April 4, 2004 - The National Grange recently hosted a dedication ceremony to unveil a new plaque featuring the Grange's motto - In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty and in all things charity. National Grange Master William Steel read the Grange's Declaration of Purpose to those in attendance before unveiling the plaque.
The 20-pound bronze plaque was donated by the Junior Grange, which raised $500 to purchase the plague through a variety of fundraising activities. The plague is visible from the outside of the 11-story, white marble-faced National Grange building located at 1616 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C.
The National Grange building is the only privately-owned building in Executive Square, home of the White House and Executive Office buildings. The official dedication of the National Grange building was held on June 29, 1960. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson were the dedicating officers.
Members of Potomac Grange #1 and Pennsylvania Granges were in attendance. The dedication of the plaque was followed by a reception in the Goss Conference Room on the first floor of the National Grange building.
Kinda says it all doesn't it?
The Grange is also a fraternal order known as the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, hence the "Pof H" on the organization's logo. Founding members determined that a fraternal organization would be best able to combine loyalty and democratic ideals to provide service to others. The National Grange was one of the first formal groups to admit women to membership on the basis of equality with men. It remains so today.
The 11-story landmark National Grange headquarters building in Washington, D.C. was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on June 29, 1960, and is the only private edifice in a federal block across from the White House. It serves as a non-governmental headquarters for agricultural and rural families. A professional staff administers policies established annually by democratic Grange processes at local county, and state levels.
National Grange Headquarters Building • 1616 H St. NW • Washington, DC 20006. Built in 1957 - The original headquarters was located on Lafayette Park.
Each year, a listing of more than 1,400 issues of concern is published and distributed by the National Grange. Current national issues include:
Major objectives of the National Grange support stewardship of America's natural resources; promotion of world-wide free trade; a combination of local and federal support for rural education, medical, communications, and road systems; non-partisan political participation; assurance of safe and properly labeled food products; organization of cooperatives and other economic services to support rural Americans; and elimination of direct government farm programs so as to assure a competitive and efficient farm system.
The National Grange supports the passage of progressive legislation that will benefit U.S. agriculture, rural America, and the nation in general. After 137 years, it remains the nation's oldest and strongest sustained organizational force working for a better life for rural Americans everywhere.
On December 4, 1867 in a small Washington, D.C. building that housed the office of William Saunders, Superintendent of Propagating Gardens in the Department of Agriculture, the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, more commonly known as the Grange, was born. Here, sitting around a plain wooden table, a group of seven earnest men, planned what was destined to become a vital force in preserving and expanding American democracy. They were all men of vision-they had faith in God, in their fellow man and the future. The Seven Founders of the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry were:
Oliver H. Kelley • William Saunders
Aaron B. Grosh • William M. Ireland
John R. Thompson • Francis McDowell
John Trimble (Assisted by Caroline Hall)
Their names are inscribed on a Birthplace Marker located near the site of the original building on the south side of 4th Street SW, near Madison Street on the mall in Washington D.C. The marker was officially dedicated on September 9, 1951 and is the only private monument on the mall.
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