National Grange

Grange, National, U.S. agrarian organization, officially the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry. Founded as a fraternal order for social and educational purposes in 1867, it led the Granger movement of the 1870s to protect farmers against economic abuse (high prices imposed on farmers by railroads and grain-storage facilities). The constitutional principle of public regulation of privately owned services was established in the Granger cases, including the landmark Supreme Court decision Munn v. Illinois (1876).