Nancy De Gennero, Daily News Journal, July 5, 2016
Members of the Woman’s Club of Murfreesboro will celebrate 100 years at 221 W.est College Street in Murfreesboro. (Photo: Nancy De Gennaro/DNJ)
MURFRESBORO — From 4-6 p.m. July 16, the nonprofit Woman’s Club of Murfreesboro is celebrating its centennial with an open house featuring wine and hors d’oeuvres.
These days, not many groups can say they’ve been around for 100 years, said longtime member and group historian Marie Miller.
“So we are celebrating our birthday in a big way and we hope people will come celebrate with us,” said Miller, a past president of the Woman’s Club.
While the women have been officially organized since 1916, origins of the Woman’s Club actually started around 1887. Back then a group of ladies became interested in meeting about Helen Hunt Jackson’s book, “Ramona,” a fictional story about a multiracial orphan girl who faces discrimination.
“Then they got together and formed a literary group. They met at several drug stores around town,” Miller said.
Word of the literary group caught the attention of members of groups such as the Daughters of the Confederacy and suffragettes, Miller said. The women later met at a local Masonic Lodge.
The women wanted a permanent place to meet, and the Haynes House, located at 221 E. College St., went up for sale. They needed money to buy it, but their husbands scoffed at the idea they would be able to, Miller said.
“It was at a time when the women weren’t even allowed to vote. There was a bemused concept on the part of the husbands,” Miller said.
So one of the members organized the ladies into different groups and each one was responsible for raising a certain amount of money.
“They were very successful and they raised (the money) in half the time … and not a man raised a finger (to help),” Miller said. “We paid $16,125 for it (in 1916).”
Motto for the club is “for the education and pleasure of its members.” Education was, and still is, a key focus of the group.
“They were interested in checking out books and magazines,” Miller said. “We had a lending library that went on from the time we organized and moved in. That was the only public lending library in Murfreesboro until Linebaugh was established (in the late 1940s).”
Getting ready for the centennial celebration of the Woman’s Club of Murfreesboro are, seated, from left, Lacy Wakid, Margaret Scott and Jan Alexander; and standing, Frances Earl, Barletta Dagley, Joyce Fullerton, Marie Miller and Diane Summar. (Photo: Joyce Taylor/DNJ)
Even today the club boasts a library so full it can hardly hold any more books, Miller said.
Even the programming is focused on education of members. At 3 p.m. every Monday from April through October, the women have an afternoon meeting with an educational program. That aspect really drew in members like Lois Graeff, who joined after moving here.
Along with afternoon programs, the group hosts several “girls nights out” to accommodate those women who work during the daytime.
“In addition to being a social thing for me, (programs) offered opportunities for me to learn about the city,” said Graeff, past president of the club. “It meant a lot to me, having been new to town.”
Graeff had been a member of similar groups in other cities where she lived, so she knew the group would be a good way to acclimate to the city.
“It’s a lovely place to make friends. And the group is open to all ages of women. We have women who have been there many years and young members, too,” Graeff said.
Reach reporter Nancy De Gennaro at 615-278-5148 and follow her on Twitter @DNJMama
If you go
What: Woman’s Club of Murfreesboro centennial celebration
When: 4-6 p.m. July 16
Where: Club house, 221 E. College St., Murfreesboro
Admission: Free
Contact: Club president, Diane Summar, 615-895-8495