Woman's Club of Starke

The area that is Bradford County, Florida was a virtual wilderness and remained sparsely settled by pioneers during the State’s Territorial Period, 1822 to 1845. The interior of the state was more heavily populated by Native Americans. By 1857, the non-Native population of the area had grown enough to warrant a post office. The settlement was named Starke, reportedly by the postmaster in honor of the South Carolina family of his fiancée. Construction of a railway line cutting diagonally across the state from Fernandina to Cedar Key was begun in 1855, under the direction of the Florida Railroad Company. The track for the new railroad reached Starke in March 1858. The track was completed to Cedar Key in March of 1861, just two months after the outbreak of the Civil War. Despite the hardships suffered during the war and Reconstruction era, Starke continued to grow and had a population of four hundred in 1875, just one year before the city was incorporated. 

Women’s Clubs have been formed at the local level since the Civil War to meet the needs of their communities in areas of education, welfare, conservation, and the arts. Florida’s earliest club was the Village Improvement Association of Green Grove Springs, Clay County, formed in the 1880s. In 1895, six recently formed clubs within the state met in Green Grove Springs and organized the Florida Federation of Women’s Clubs (FFWC). This organization mimicked the General Federation of Women’s Clubs which had been formed a few years earlier at the national level. The FFWC’s earliest activities involved social morality, education, and bird protection. In 1898, the FFWC was admitted to the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. By 1914, the FFWC had departments which coordinated activities in art, civics, civic service reform, music, public health, home economics, forestry, waterways, roads, food, and Seminole Indians. Literature and library promotion were among the FFWC’s biggest departments. 

The Woman’s Club of Starke had its beginnings as the Mother’s Club of Starke, organized at the home of Mrs. T. R. Sweat. Its purpose was to assist the Bradford County High School. Only mothers were accepted into active membership, with teachers being taken on as honorary members. The Club’s earliest project was furnishing a room in the school for a library and a study for the principal. The members of the Club contributed books from their personal libraries and several much-needed reference books were purchased. The Club also hired a janitor for the school, there being no funds provided by the trustees of the school. The Club helped provide children of “destitute parentage” with clothing and books. In 1911, the Club began using the principal’s office as their meeting place once a month. In 1913, the Club changed its named to the Woman’s Club of Starke and in 1914 the Club was received into the FFWC. 

The club wished to acquire a building for its own use. Most of the Club members favored the former school building on the corner of North Walnut and Jefferson Streets, as the most centrally located place for a combined clubhouse, auditorium, and restrooms for out-of-town shoppers and visitors. This 1877, wooden building, the first public school in Starke, was vacated in 1914 when a new brick school was completed. Having been vacated, the Women’s Club began to use the old building as its headquarters. 

In the Spring of 1917, with World War I anticipated, the Woman’s Club agenda was laid aside as the organization was turned over to the Red Cross intact, including personnel, funds, and activities. The ladies made hospital, comfort, and Christmas kits for the troops, and shipped clothes to war destitute allies. It was not until October 1919 that the women began to function as a club again. 

Woman's Club of Starke, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed December 22nd 2020. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77842068.

About Us, Woman's Club of Starke. Accessed January 22nd 2021. http://womansclubofstarke.com/about.html.