The Grange at Crowley’s Corner in South Lewiston was among the first Granges organized in Maine — some say the first.

Sixty-four Granges opened in Maine in 1874. As they opened, each Grange was given a number in the order that it opened. Crowley Grange was No. 2.

But according to oral history among local Grangers, the Lewiston Grange actually was the first to be organized, historian Doug Hodgkin wrote in “Historic Lewiston: The Grange at Crowley’s Junction” in 2003.

Because the Grange’s state master was from Hampden, Eastern Star Grange won the designation as No. 1, Hodgkin wrote. “However, in fact, Nelson Ham, the first state master, was from Lewiston.”

Hodgkin continued:

“Probably a more accurate explanation is found written on the inside back cover of the first book of Lewiston Grange records, as entered by John L. Ham on January 17, 1920: At State Grange the matter of numbering the Granges came up. No. 1 was given to … Hampden as a simple act of courtesy, and that Grange having been the first one in the state to have taken the first preliminary steps towards the organization of a Grange.

“A hand-written history presented at the 46th anniversary meeting in 1920 claims that Lewiston was the first to be organized officially and cites Ham as the source.”

Crowley was one of seven Granges in the Twin Cities: Thorne’s Corner on Sabattus Street; and in Auburn, Danville, Stevens Mills, Youngs Corner, East Auburn and North Auburn. Only Danville remains.

Crowley Grange was dissolved in 1994, according to Hodgkin.

“Some diagnose the demise as a reflection of changes specific to the situation of the Grange as a rural organization in an urban era or as a fraternal organization whose rituals seem quaint and out-of date,” he wrote.

“Others attribute the decline to forces that affect all membership organizations that rely upon local chapters, that is, the lure of television and the advent of a generation of Americans who are much less civically engaged than their parents and grandparents.”