WESTFIELD — The history of the National Grange, with a focus on the organization’s first working grange in Fredonia, will be outlined during the Fireside Lecture Series on Thursday at Patterson Library, 40 Portage St.

The program, presented by Pamela Brown, begins at 6 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The Fireside Lecture Series, a collaboration between the Chautauqua County Historical Society and the Patterson Library, provides programs on local and general history.

The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, founded in 1867 after the American Civil War, was a grassroots movement aimed at supporting farmers and rural communities. It promoted agricultural education, cooperative buying and selling, and political advocacy — especially against unfair railroad rates and monopolies.

The Grange also became an important social and cultural hub, welcoming women as equal members early on and organizing community events, lectures, and mutual aid.

In Chautauqua County, the Grange movement took hold in the late 19th century as farming communities sought connection and economic stability. Dozens of local “subordinate Granges” formed, each serving as a neighborhood center for meetings, education, and social life. These Granges often hosted debates, dances, and agricultural fairs, helping reduce rural isolation.

Michelle Henry, research historian for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, will join the presentation to outline Fredonia Grange No. 1, the first working Grange in America. An interactive map of Chautauqua County’s Granges will also be presented.

Brown is the appointed historian for the village of Panama and the towns of Harmony and North Harmony. She is a registered historian through the Association of Public Historian of New York State and is a member of the Government Appointed Historians of Western New York (GAHWNY). She served on the GAHWNY board for several years and was the 2016 recipient of the Julia Reinstein Career Achievement Award.

Brown holds a bachelor’s degree in historical studies from Empire State College and a master’s degree in library science from the University at Buffalo. She retired in 2018 from her position as records management coordinator for Jamestown Public Schools, having held that position since 2007.

A member of the Chautauqua County Historical Society Board for several years, Brown served on McClurg Museum’s collections committee. She volunteers as librarian, archivist and collections manager at the Harmony-North Harmony History Center on the Harmony Historical Society campus in Blockville.

She enjoys researching and writing about local history and published Remembering Panama: Glimpses of the Past, which she co-authored with her sister, Heather Schneider. As a member of the Panama Writers Conference, she and three other authors published Harmony Recollections: Mid-20th Century Narratives.

She lives in Panama with her husband, John.

Upcoming programs in the Fireside Lecture Series will feature Westfield native and Kentucky Derby champion Vincent Powers, presented by Randy Anderson, Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame director, on May 7, and the Geological History of Western New York, given by SUNY Fredonia professor Dr. Thomas Hegna on June 4.