National Register Listing

Crescent Grange Hall No. 512

W of Martin Lake on Type Lake Rd., East Bethel, MN

The Crescent Grange Hall #512, whose organization was formed in 1874, is historically significant as an early hall built by a subordinate Grange in Minnesota. The Granger movement in Minnesota, with roots dating to the form of 1852, was a significant force in Minnesota's history from its formal organization in 1867 throughout the Great Depression. Oliver H. Kelley, whose farm is located approximately ten miles north of Anoka, and six other farmers founded the National Grange, or Patrons of Husbandry, as a secret order of farmers. Early in its history, the Minnesota State Grange (a federation of the National Grange) worked for legislation to benefit Minnesota farmers. A series of acts, known as the Granger acts, was passed into law in the 1870s. Blegen points out that "... it was Granger legislation that established the principle that railroads and other corporations clothed with public interest are properly subject to public regulation. In 1876 the Supreme Court validated this principle in its decision in Munn v. Illinois, and other Granger cases, one of them a Minnesota dispute (Winona and St. Peter Railroad Company v. Blake). A constitutional way was opened for more carefully devised regulations than those provided in early laws."

Although the Minnesota State Grange was involved in political issues affecting agriculture, it was not a political party, but an organization to promote education in agriculture and to provide social and cultural opportunities for farmers and their wives, through club meetings. Grange meetings provided a forum for the discussion of a wide range of issues, including information about agriculture, crops, machinery, new devices, and new methods. In addition, the Grange benefitted its members by cooperatively buying and selling such agricultural machinery, implements, and household goods as threshing machines, brooms, groceries, and cattle for breeding stock.
From 1874 until 1882, members of Crescent Grange #512 met in churches and homes. In 1881 the Grange planned for the construction of a hall on land donated by Granger J.G. Green. The logs for the construction of the hall were logged and sawn by members of the Grange. The construction of the hall, begun in the spring of 1881, was completed for a dedicatory service on July 4, 1882.

Crescent Grange #512, whose membership has increased in the recent past, continues to maintain the hall in an excellent state of preservation and uses it for monthly meetings.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1979.