Community, tea, and tradition

The Woman’s Club of Spokane, 1428 W. Ninth Ave., has been serving women of the Spokane community as both a social outlet and a socially conscious organization for 100 years.

The club held an open house Sept. 16 to celebrate and to spread the word about the work they do.

Gwen McManus, the president of the group, said that the Woman’s Club is a gathering place for women of all ages to meet for the betterment of the community.

Some of the projects the club tackles include furnishing a room at Hope House, collecting sweats for domestic violence victims to wear home from the hospital, and raising money for Heifer International, an organization that provides goats and cows to poverty-stricken communities around the world.

“Give a woman a goat, and she could do so many things,” McManus said.

There are plans in the works to team with Spokane Parks and Recreation to hold classes such as Pilates and stage craft classes for kids in the historic club building, constructed in the late 1920s.

One tradition of the club is its vintage clothing collection. Many members joined to be a part of modeling clothing from days past at fundraisers and fashion shows.

Dean Robb, a past president and a member for 14 years, said the collection was what drew her to the club initially, but she stayed for the activities and the friends. Now, two of her daughters are members, and her granddaughters help model the clothing.

The women also take great pride in hosting a high tea for the 14 finalists of the Lilac Court each December. McManus said the girls always enjoy themselves and for many of the guests, the event is the first real tea party they’ve attended.

The opening of the building made the front page of The Spokesman-Review on March 17, 1929.

“It’s almost exactly the way it was when it was built,” said Rosemary Small, a member of the club and the house manager. Small said she joined the club because she lived in the neighborhood and fell in love with the building.

“We are a community of women who do what women do,” Small said. “It changes with the times.”

In its early years, the club met for card games and homemaking classes. Members started Spokane’s first day care, helped furnish the Hutton Settlement for orphans and opened a kindergarten inside its walls.

During World War I, the Red Cross took over the building and invited the community to give their time. One year, the club sponsored a movie that was filmed in Spokane.

“The history of the Woman’s Club of Spokane is the history of Spokane,” Small said.

The group keeps that history alive with a display of their past presidents which hangs on the wall in the dining room.

The women in the pictures, who range in style and character, are listed until 1981 by their husband’s names.

According to an article that appeared in The Spokesman-Review in 1961, the group was founded in 1905 by representatives of several women’s organizations throughout the area.

The group incorporated, and stock was for sale at $10 a share.

They reorganized in 1907 as a social and educational institution and have been serving the community ever since, although they almost lost their clubhouse during the Great Depression. The cost to build it was almost twice what the group had estimated, and during the stock market crash, the bank that held the loan went out of business. Unless the club could pay the new loan holder $10,000, the Woman’s Club would need to find a new place to meet.

A family that was heavily involved in the club offered to pay half the cost, and the members sold lifetime memberships at $50 a pop. Many local businesses made donations as well.

It didn’t take the organization long to save the clubhouse, which welcomes visitors with the sign, “The club that bids you welcome.”

In 1938, Gov. Clarence D. Martin was in attendance at the club’s mortgage-burning ceremony.

Today, the club rents its building for weddings, receptions, and family gatherings.

The women are also working on a cookbook featuring recipes they have used at their tea parties over the years. They expect the book to be on sale sometime this fall.

The group is also always looking for new members to continue its mission of service to the area.

“We’d love to have more members that love to do the things that women do,” Small said. “I don’t think we’ve outgrown our original purpose.”