station house/SRV railroad turn table/grangers poster and book on grangers
I was in the San Ramon Museum looking around and a women came up to me and asked if i needed any type of assistance and i told her i was a CSU student and was majoring in History. She asked me what CSU meant and i told her California State University, as I was just a little shocked that she did not know what CSU meant. I told her that i was looking for information on Daniel Inman, his brother Andrew and the settlers of Danville and the significance of Danville founders to the Bay Area and California. What she gave me in information was father beyond the S.F Bay Area and also even beyond California in being significant, this organization was formed because of events far away from the dusty trails and roads of Danville.
The organization was called the Grangers and today it is found in many areas of California and was founded after the Civil War, which was disrupted to many farmers during that time. The Danville Grange Hall is still located on Diablo Road and has been standing there for over 130 years(IN THREE LOCATIONS). The Civil War which was thousands of miles away, caused many disruptions in farming within California and the San Ramon, it was because of that the Grangers were formed. The Danville Grange was founded by Oliver Hudson Kelley in 1867, as a way to improve farmers lives throughout the country and hoping that this new type of farmers fraternity, the Patrons of Husbandry, would help famers and help mend the wounds of the Civil War for many farmers.
The Danville Grange No. 85 was formed on October 1, 1873, with 30 charter members (20 men and 10 women) . It had become the third Granger outfit in Contra Costa and also the 85th Granger in the state of California. The members elected Charles Wood, you remember him as the friend of both Daniel and Andrew Inman, to be the first worthy master. The Grange Hall place in San Ramon Valley history is long as it was the meeting place every Saturday for their meetings and pot luck, first at the Danville Grammer School on Front Street, then later in 1874, a new Grange Hall was built just west of Front Street for some $1,383.70 which included the land and building.(3 total loations and buildings used s the Granger Hall).
The Building of the Danville Grange Hall went up quickly and a local newspaper had actually said in this direct quotes, (The Pacific Rural Press on July 11th,1874 edition) "The frame of the new hall for the Danville Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, 30 by 60 feet uopn the ground, is already up".
The Grange Halls were being constructed all over the country and not only were they there to really aid farmers but really served as community centers and became the hubs of community life. The Grange Hall for 40 years became the largest meeting room in the valley as it held meetings, political and other type of speeches, plays, parties, church services and dances. This was not only refined to Danville but all over the country, that this was going on. Grangers in Danville and the county, it was not just a local importance but also state wide. The Grangers made great efforts to improve themselves and their economic conditions within the county and state, as Grangers really changed and reflected the views of the agriculture community within the county and state. It was these views like on transportation such as lowering railroad rates, scientific farming techniques, rural economic development, public education, health and safety. Selling California and San Ramon Valley agriculture and wheat to other parts of the U.S and the world, was a prime focus of the Grangers and they hired their own wheat and agriculture agents in an efffort to get larger returns for the farmers. The wheat was a dry, flavorful grain which sold well at the Livermore Corn exchange at $68.00 a ton in 1870's but the farmers only got $28.00 a ton.
One of the biggest historical contributions to only the county but to the state was that they had formed a bank, a business famers assocaition and facilities for shipping wheat, grains and other types of agriculture to other parts of the U.S and the world. This was not just a county bank but the state Grangers Bank of California, a state wide bank that dealt with shipping various types of the California agriculture to other locations outside of California. The Grangers met on April 1874, with Woods and several other local Grangers, along wth 130 other subordinate state Grangers, to found the Grangers Bank of California. Local Danville Grangers John J. Kerr, Erastus Ford and James Stone(Stoneridge fame) also along with Woods, helped plan a warehouse and business association throughout California. The historically signifance of all of this was that the Grangers set the tone and price for wheat, grain and other types of agriculture to be cheapily shipped out of California. They even built the Grangers Wharf in Martinez and a railroad that went to the wharf and this let them have a deep water location to send the agricultural goods directly to the ships.
The Grangers significance was not only felt in their farmers associations and their banks, but also politically. Farmers were angry about the the railroad monopolies in California who charged high prices for shipping wheat and other agricultural products. The Grangers acted on this anger and lobbied the California legislature to stop this overcharging for shipping wheat and agriculture products by the California railroads. This became known as the "Grangers Laws" which helped reduce the power of the railroads in California. Grangers elected to the 1878-1879 California Constitutional Convention made up one fourth of all the legislators there,which included Danville founder Daniel Inman and later Charles Wood and A.J Young, all Grangers and friends of each other in Danville.
The Grangers were also important politically and in the sense of history in that they were free speakers, free-thinkers and had ground breaking ideas in social and also politically wise for their time. Charles Wood, Daniel Inman, A.J Young and many others from Danville inacted ideas of anti-smoking and drinking efforts, graduated tax systems and their non-partisan ideas had weakened the party system and led to support for a new political parties like the Progressive Party. These free-thinking ideas spread throughout California legislatures and then even into the United States as a whole, so the historical and political significance was wide and long lasting.
The 20th century did not stop the flow of historical landmarks that the Grangers and the local residents of San Ramon Valley and Danville made to the county and California, the Grangers being of free-thinking and spirited as the Grangers who were before them. They were also responsible for the rural free delivery by the post office(was adopted statewide) , also they founded the Valley Improvement Assocaition which brought telephone service and a new electric railway in 1905, initiated a new public high school district in 1909 for all high school age children(use to be one building for all children first grade through high school statewide) , organized the Good Roads League in the County(Contra Costa) with the overall goals of paving roads for the new invented automobiles and building a highway from Martinez(County Seat) to Stockton by way of the San Ramon Valley, and finally initiated a lobbying effort to make Mt Diablo, a State Park and this even before there was a State park System. Their efforts started the California State System, in which Mt Diablo was added to that Park System soon after it was made official.
The trip to the San Ramon Valley Museum was interesting in finding out alot about the Grangers and that many of Danville's founders and early settlers were quite radical thinkers in a social and political sense. They set the tone and in motion many things that we have today and they made history in doing so, in their actions and new type of thinking for their time. I personally found interesting that a bunch of farmers lobbied for Mt Diablo to become a State Park and this from farmers of all people. But they lobbied and got their wishes and we have Mt Diablo State park today, thanks to people like Daniel Inman, Charles Wood, A.J. Young, James Stone and others. The Grangers were important for alot of reasons historical both in County, State and also for the United States which i have explained. I do hope that you go visit the old original Grangers Hall in Danville, now the Village Theatre on Front street( on the second floor) or the newer one that opened in 1952 on Diablo St. It reminds us all of the times of old, of old radical ideas and free thinking by the Grangers, that brought out changes and history being made.
A Granger song I wanted ya'll to see and maybe sing (yeah right?)
Brothers of the plow
The power is with you
The word is expectation waits
For action prompt and true
Oppression stalks abroad
Monopolies abound (railroads!!)
Their giant hands already clutch
The tillers of the ground
The organization was called the Grangers and today it is found in many areas of California and was founded after the Civil War, which was disrupted to many farmers during that time. The Danville Grange Hall is still located on Diablo Road and has been standing there for over 130 years(IN THREE LOCATIONS). The Civil War which was thousands of miles away, caused many disruptions in farming within California and the San Ramon, it was because of that the Grangers were formed. The Danville Grange was founded by Oliver Hudson Kelley in 1867, as a way to improve farmers lives throughout the country and hoping that this new type of farmers fraternity, the Patrons of Husbandry, would help famers and help mend the wounds of the Civil War for many farmers.
The Danville Grange No. 85 was formed on October 1, 1873, with 30 charter members (20 men and 10 women) . It had become the third Granger outfit in Contra Costa and also the 85th Granger in the state of California. The members elected Charles Wood, you remember him as the friend of both Daniel and Andrew Inman, to be the first worthy master. The Grange Hall place in San Ramon Valley history is long as it was the meeting place every Saturday for their meetings and pot luck, first at the Danville Grammer School on Front Street, then later in 1874, a new Grange Hall was built just west of Front Street for some $1,383.70 which included the land and building.(3 total loations and buildings used s the Granger Hall).
The Building of the Danville Grange Hall went up quickly and a local newspaper had actually said in this direct quotes, (The Pacific Rural Press on July 11th,1874 edition) "The frame of the new hall for the Danville Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, 30 by 60 feet uopn the ground, is already up".
The Grange Halls were being constructed all over the country and not only were they there to really aid farmers but really served as community centers and became the hubs of community life. The Grange Hall for 40 years became the largest meeting room in the valley as it held meetings, political and other type of speeches, plays, parties, church services and dances. This was not only refined to Danville but all over the country, that this was going on. Grangers in Danville and the county, it was not just a local importance but also state wide. The Grangers made great efforts to improve themselves and their economic conditions within the county and state, as Grangers really changed and reflected the views of the agriculture community within the county and state. It was these views like on transportation such as lowering railroad rates, scientific farming techniques, rural economic development, public education, health and safety. Selling California and San Ramon Valley agriculture and wheat to other parts of the U.S and the world, was a prime focus of the Grangers and they hired their own wheat and agriculture agents in an efffort to get larger returns for the farmers. The wheat was a dry, flavorful grain which sold well at the Livermore Corn exchange at $68.00 a ton in 1870's but the farmers only got $28.00 a ton.
One of the biggest historical contributions to only the county but to the state was that they had formed a bank, a business famers assocaition and facilities for shipping wheat, grains and other types of agriculture to other parts of the U.S and the world. This was not just a county bank but the state Grangers Bank of California, a state wide bank that dealt with shipping various types of the California agriculture to other locations outside of California. The Grangers met on April 1874, with Woods and several other local Grangers, along wth 130 other subordinate state Grangers, to found the Grangers Bank of California. Local Danville Grangers John J. Kerr, Erastus Ford and James Stone(Stoneridge fame) also along with Woods, helped plan a warehouse and business association throughout California. The historically signifance of all of this was that the Grangers set the tone and price for wheat, grain and other types of agriculture to be cheapily shipped out of California. They even built the Grangers Wharf in Martinez and a railroad that went to the wharf and this let them have a deep water location to send the agricultural goods directly to the ships.
The Grangers significance was not only felt in their farmers associations and their banks, but also politically. Farmers were angry about the the railroad monopolies in California who charged high prices for shipping wheat and other agricultural products. The Grangers acted on this anger and lobbied the California legislature to stop this overcharging for shipping wheat and agriculture products by the California railroads. This became known as the "Grangers Laws" which helped reduce the power of the railroads in California. Grangers elected to the 1878-1879 California Constitutional Convention made up one fourth of all the legislators there,which included Danville founder Daniel Inman and later Charles Wood and A.J Young, all Grangers and friends of each other in Danville.
The Grangers were also important politically and in the sense of history in that they were free speakers, free-thinkers and had ground breaking ideas in social and also politically wise for their time. Charles Wood, Daniel Inman, A.J Young and many others from Danville inacted ideas of anti-smoking and drinking efforts, graduated tax systems and their non-partisan ideas had weakened the party system and led to support for a new political parties like the Progressive Party. These free-thinking ideas spread throughout California legislatures and then even into the United States as a whole, so the historical and political significance was wide and long lasting.
The 20th century did not stop the flow of historical landmarks that the Grangers and the local residents of San Ramon Valley and Danville made to the county and California, the Grangers being of free-thinking and spirited as the Grangers who were before them. They were also responsible for the rural free delivery by the post office(was adopted statewide) , also they founded the Valley Improvement Assocaition which brought telephone service and a new electric railway in 1905, initiated a new public high school district in 1909 for all high school age children(use to be one building for all children first grade through high school statewide) , organized the Good Roads League in the County(Contra Costa) with the overall goals of paving roads for the new invented automobiles and building a highway from Martinez(County Seat) to Stockton by way of the San Ramon Valley, and finally initiated a lobbying effort to make Mt Diablo, a State Park and this even before there was a State park System. Their efforts started the California State System, in which Mt Diablo was added to that Park System soon after it was made official.
The trip to the San Ramon Valley Museum was interesting in finding out alot about the Grangers and that many of Danville's founders and early settlers were quite radical thinkers in a social and political sense. They set the tone and in motion many things that we have today and they made history in doing so, in their actions and new type of thinking for their time. I personally found interesting that a bunch of farmers lobbied for Mt Diablo to become a State Park and this from farmers of all people. But they lobbied and got their wishes and we have Mt Diablo State park today, thanks to people like Daniel Inman, Charles Wood, A.J. Young, James Stone and others. The Grangers were important for alot of reasons historical both in County, State and also for the United States which i have explained. I do hope that you go visit the old original Grangers Hall in Danville, now the Village Theatre on Front street( on the second floor) or the newer one that opened in 1952 on Diablo St. It reminds us all of the times of old, of old radical ideas and free thinking by the Grangers, that brought out changes and history being made.
A Granger song I wanted ya'll to see and maybe sing (yeah right?)
Brothers of the plow
The power is with you
The word is expectation waits
For action prompt and true
Oppression stalks abroad
Monopolies abound (railroads!!)
Their giant hands already clutch
The tillers of the ground
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