The Woman's Club of Fort Worth

Local businesswoman Anna Shelton (1861-1939) recognized the need to bring together Fort Worth's many disparate woman's clubs into one umbrella organization with a shared physical space. Representatives of eleven local woman's clubs met at the First Christian Church in January 1923 to form the new organization; the eleven charter clubs included the Fort Worth Federation of Women's Clubs, the Woman's Wednesday Club, the Monday Book Club, '93 Club, Sorosis Club, Shakespeare Club, Penelope Club, Euterpean Club (named after the Greek muse, Euterpe), History Club, College Women's Club, and the Harmony Club. Both the Fort Worth Federation of Women's Clubs and Sorosis Clubs were established members of the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs. The Fort Worth Garden Club was organized in 1926 under the auspices of The Woman's Club but did not become a formal member.[5]

A member of the '93 Club, Sorosis Club, and state representative at national women's club conventions, Anna Shelton became the club's first president in 1923, a position she held until shortly before her death in 1939.[6][7] The same year, Etta O. Newby, a Fort Worth woman who was not a member of any woman's clubs, donated a residence on Pennsylvania Avenue in Fort Worth's Quality Hill neighborhood to the organization in memory of her late husband. The mansion was then occupied by military personnel as the United States Office of Alien Property Custodian had assumed ownership of the property when its German owners were stranded in Europe during World War I.[4] The deed of gift transferring ownership of the building, to be named the William G. Newby Memorial Building, to the Woman's Club limited its use to white women engaging in educational and cultural activities; the deed also forbade drinking, smoking, and gambling on the premises.[8] Perhaps remarkably, Newby's smoking ban was the only controversial term of the gift at the time, as factions of club leaders faced off, with Anna Shelton supporting the ban and library director Jennie Scott Scheuber "championing the cause of women's right to smoke."[9]

In 1931, the Woman's Club of Fort Worth became the first in Texas with its own radio show on KFJZ, which was owned by Margaret Meacham, a prominent club member. The same year, the club assumed management of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, holding concerts in the Central High School auditorium; operations were handed back to the symphony's board in 1938. In 1932, the club started its Texas Library, which today holds a respected collection of rare books and Texana. The Texas Federation of Women's Clubs also used the Newby building as their headquarters until their own building was completed in Austin in 1933.[5] The Woman's Club played an active role in the 1936 Frontier Centennial, Fort Worth's celebration of the Texas centennial, operating a Texas history speakers bureau and a small history museum on the event grounds. They also organized a Texas Centennial scrapbook project and a program to place Texas history books in local school libraries. Notable speakers at the club during the 1930s through 1950s include Gertrude Stein, Ogden Nash, Grant Wood, John Erskine, Robert St. John, and Alan Mowbray.[5]

During this period, the club supported many local children's and medical charities, Red Cross, Fort Worth Public Library, and provided free music and art lessons to children. In 1970, the club's original charter was updated to comply with tax laws for non-profit organizations; this included the removal of the clause limiting membership to white women and creation of plans for distribution of assets in the event of the organization's dissolution.[5] In 1993, the club established a historic preservation trust to care for the buildings and grounds.[8]

The Woman's Club of Fort Worth occupies a 2.2-acre (0.89 ha) site on Pennsylvania Avenue in Fort Worth's Near Southside, and includes structures in the Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Italian Renaissance Revival, and Craftsman styles. All structures in the complex are painted "antique Spanish white" to unify the disparate architectural styles. Four former residences built between 1903 and 1911, all originally part of the Quality Hill neighborhood, comprise the main buildings. Notable structures include:

The landscape architecture firm of Hare & Hare, which the Fort Worth park board secured to develop the city parks master plan, designed the club's grounds in 1926 as a gift to the Fort Worth Garden Club.[4]

In 1976, a Texas Historical Marker was placed in the courtyard outside Ida Saunders Hall.[2] The Woman's Club received the Tarrant County Historic Preservation Council's Pinnacle Award in 1989. In 1990, the club's complex was designated as a City of Fort Worth Landmark, received a Fort Worth Beautiful Award, and was rezoned as a Cultural and Historic District.[8]

The Woman's Club has a notable collection of furnishings and art, including nine grand pianos; the Jarvis Light, a chandelier once owned by Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day; portraits of prominent members by painter Emily Guthrie Smith,[4] and Pipes of Pan, a bronze sculpture by Frederick MacMonnies.

As of 1998, the following clubs were active members of The Woman's Club of Fort Worth.[8]

• Official website