As the country neared a depression and railroad power dominated the post-Civil War economy, farmers from the Midwest and Northeast established the Grange in 1869. Five years later, in September 1874, with about 1.5 million members nationwide in 20,000 local branches, the first Patterson Grange, No. 237, met upstairs in the building now on Route 311 and Front Street. Its surviving records through January 1878 include correspondence with other Granges and the purchase of four lots of cheese for destitute families in Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. Unlike many organizations founded in those difficult years, the Grange endured, supporting legislation to control railroad power while also reducing farmers' dependence on middlemen through cooperatives that processed and marketed farm products and purchased general merchandise and farm implements. Its large membership also formed a market that helped lead to the founding of Montgomery Ward as a mail-order business serving it. The present Patterson Grange No. 939, chartered in November 1902 with 43 members, grew to 165 by 1910. After meeting for several years in rented halls, it bought and remodeled the old school building in 1912 for a permanent hall, raising money through dances, auctions, minstrel shows, food sales, and other events. Its annual clam bake was long a major Patterson event before it was discontinued because of the polio epidemic, and two-day Farmer Institutes brought speakers, usually from agricultural colleges, to lecture on useful topics; Franklyn Delano Roosevelt, then a state senator-elect, spoke at one. Although Patterson is no longer a farming community, the lessons and values of that period have been kept alive and remain available today through organizations like the Grange.