Glendale Woman's Club

Women’s clubs have existed in Arizona since the late 1880s. Two of the earliest women’s clubs included the Prescott History Study Club, established in 1891, and the Safford Improvement Club, established in 1896. On November 18, 1901, five women’s clubs met in Phoenix and formed an alliance called the Arizona Federation of Women’s Clubs. The charter members of this Federation were the Woman’s Club of Bisbee, the Ladies Village Improvement Club (Florence), the Monday Club (Prescott), the Woman’s Club (Phoenix), and the Woman’s Club (Tucson). The Self-Culture Club of Glendale (the Glendale Woman’s Club) sent its first delegates to the Federation’s yearly convention in 1904.  

In 1916 the Arizona Federation of Women’s Clubs boasted forty-four affiliated clubs with a total membership of 2,227 women. The local clubs subscribed to the philosophy of their parent national organization, the General federation of Women’s Clubs, which asked its members to “Open your club doors, make all women welcome, make of them social centers”. Ironically, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs’ emphasis on self-culture and self-improvement stopped short of political involvement. The subject of women’s suffrage was officially excluded from the realm of topics allowed to members for debate. Allegations from the press that the Federation was composed of “disciples of suffrage” were met with indignant denials from its leaders. While a woman was not barred from joining the Federation for her political views, she was not allowed to “agitate the question”. In fact, the issue was perceived as so volatile, that in 1915, the Constitution of the General Federation incorporated an amendment which stated that: “Clubs shall not be eligible for membership in this federation which are political or sectarian in purpose”. Nonetheless, women’s suffrage in Arizona was granted in 1912, eight years before women got the vote nationwide. 

In 1901, a group of eight pioneer women, interested in the betterment of themselves and the growing community, organized the Self-Culture Club of Glendale. Established as a temperance town, Glendale was primarily a farming community until 1907 when industry came with the opening of the sugar beet factory. This provided employment to new settlers, and as the town grew, so did the Self-Culture Club. By 1907, membership had increased to fifty members, making it impossible to meet in private homes any longer. 

The club women had been granted a lot of land which they sold for $500, and this was used as a nucleus for a fund toward building a clubhouse. The first private donation toward this fund was the $5 prize money won by a member at the State Fair for the best cake baked with Glendale sugar from the town’s sugar beet factory. Shares of stock were sold at $5 a share and by 1912 the money had been raised to build one of the earliest Woman’s Club clubhouses in Arizona. Erected on two lots donated during a real estate promotion, the total cost of the building was $2,947, and it was dedicated in 1913. By 1917, there were still only eight Woman’s Clubs in Arizona that had their own buildings. 

In 1912, the Club became a formal organization of eighty-five members and the community owes much of its achievements from social, cultural, civic, and philanthropic activities to it. Since 1914, the clubhouse has provided a Sunday meeting place for many church denominations. During World War I, the Red Cross used the building for sewing, bandage making, and packing supplies. In 1918 the Woman’s Club took over the local library which had been neglected during the war.  

Philanthropic endeavors were accomplished by fundraising activities held in the clubhouse. These included raising monies for the library, the first drinking fountain in the City Park, Liberty Bonds, food for the benefit of ex-servicemen, and the Camp Fire Girls, all during the 1920s. On October 19, 1928, the first high school dance, sponsored by the Club, was held in their clubhouse.  

For many years the clubhouse of the Glendale Woman’s Club served as the largest meeting hall in the community where town meetings, concerts, plays, church services, dances, as well as wedding and funeral services occurred. The clubhouse is still owned and operated by the Glendale Woman’s Club and continues to serve the community as a meeting place for local groups.  

Glendale Woman's Club, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed December 22nd 2020. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75610252.

Our History, Glendale Woman's Club. Accessed January 22nd 2021. http://www.glendalewomansclub.com/.