The National Grange of the Orer of Patrons of Husbandry, also simply styled the Grange, is a fraternal organization for American farmers that encouraged farm families to band together for their common economic and political good. Founded in 1867 after the Civil War, it is the oldest surviving agricultural organization in America, though now much diminished from the over one million members it had in its peak in the 1890s through the 1950s. In addition to serving as a center for many farming communities, the Grange was an effective special interest group for farmers and their agendas, including fighting railroad monopolies and pushing for rural mail deliveries. Indeed, the word "grange" itself comes from a Latin word for grain, and is related to a "granary" or, more generically, a farm.