By Mark Boshnack

Tri-Towns Bureau

They once were part of many upstate communities, but the number of local Granges continues to drop.

At some, though, efforts are under way to keep the roughly 140-year-old organization part of the rural community.

The National Grange was formed in the 1860s to improve rural life, according to the organization's website. Granges later formed at state and local levels in much of the country. The Extension Service, Rural Free Delivery and Farm Credit System were started largely because of Grange lobbying, according the website.

In New York state, there are 300 community Granges with 11,000 members, said state Grange Secretary Virginia Conner. This is a decline from 17,000 members and 392 Granges 10 years ago, she said.

Membership peaked statewide at around 50,000 in the 1950s, said Roger Halbert, 50, master of the Butternut Valley Grange in Gilbertsville and a state officer. More than 10 years ago, the state organization analyzed why there had been such a decline.

One of the biggest changes found, Halbert said, was the emergence of the two-working-parent households. Where Granges haven't adapted to these changes, he said, they face declines in membership or even closure.

In its prime, the Grange meeting was a social event, but people don't have time anymore, Halbert said.

Such practices as meeting twice a month, he said, have a tradition dating to the early 1900s. Most Granges that haven't changed to once-a-month meetings have fallen on hard times, he said.

These trends can be seen in several local Granges, officials said.

"We are hoping to close in July," said Otego Valley Grange Treasurer Wilma Harrison, 77. She said she is the youngest of the five remaining members of the Grange, located in Mount Vision. Four members died late last year, she said, and a number of others have moved away.

For the rest, she said, maintaining the organization, "is just hard work."

She said the group sold its building several years ago and has been meeting in her house since. Harrison said she has been a member of the Grange for 50 years.

Membership has declined at the Hinman Hollow Grange as well, an official there said, but not to closure level.

"We have been quite an active Grange," said William Powers, 83, master of Hinman Hollow Grange. "I think we will survive."

The group has had six to 10 people ask to join recently, he said. About 20 people attend the meetings the second and fourth Fridays of each month at the Grange Hall on county Route 45, Powers said.

In the past, square-dancing was a regular event at the meetings, but that has been cut back to a twice-a-year event, he said, because there aren't always the 16 people it requires.

Powers said the average age of members is about 60.

At the Butternut Valley Grange in Gilbertsville, the story is very different, Halbert said.

"We have had a net gain in membership for the past 10 to 12 years," he said. About 40 people attend meetings, which are held the second Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m.

Among other things, he credits the group's success to participation in the state action program, geared toward revitalizing the participating Granges. In addition to his local role, Halbert serves on the state level as the vice president and legislative director.

Those that participate in the action program, he said, look "at what they are doing and why" to increase attendance at meetings.

In a Grange that has been doing the same thing for more than 10 years, he said, it is not uncommon to see a decline in membership.

The Grange in Gilbertsville, which has several teenagers as members, has taken an active stand on several legislative issues, Halbert said. Those issues include supporting the rights of business owners to decide whether to ban indoor smoking and seeking restoration of state aid cuts to Board of Cooperative Education Services, he said.

Although the Grange is active in advocating agricultural issues, Halbert said, "we are also involved with rural and family issues."