Lemon Bay Woman's Club

The Lemon Bay Woman’s Club in located in the community of Englewood, in Sarasota County on the west coast of Florida. Settlers were scarce in this region of Florida until after Reconstruction. The absence of railroads or convenient land transportation forced settlers to use coastal waterways. The growth pattern gradually changed during the 1880s as interest in the use of the land for cattle and citrus increased. By the early 1890s, a settlement had been established which was named Lemon Bay for its primary citrus product. A freeze in the winter of 1894 destroyed the crop and created a severe hardship on the fledgling town.  

In 1896, a large portion of Lemon Bay land was purchased by the Nichols brothers of Chicago. It was their intention to develop and market the area as the community of Englewood. The brothers borrowed the name for the proposed town from the Chicago suburb of Englewood – even the street names were the same as the northern sister community. Early promotional brochures indicated tourism, commercial fishing, and ranching to be the major industries. 

The Nichols did well at promoting their new town and, by 1897, Englewood boasted at least twenty-two houses. Most residents were fishermen, farmers, lumbermen, merchants, or mechanics. The real estate office of the Nichols Brothers was the only business of its kind in the area. Development continued at a slow but steady pace until the completion of the Tamiami Trail in 1917. The Trail linked Englewood to Venice to the north, and consequently opened the town to a much larger number of settlers. The Florida Land Boom of the 1920s provided impetus for commercial development in Englewood, and in November 1925, the City of Englewood was incorporated with an area of thirteen square miles.  

The Lemon Bay Woman’s Club was organized in 1918 as the Lemon Bay Mother’s Club. The first club meeting was held in June 1918. Officers were elected, the Constitution and By-Laws were accepted, and plans were made to meet every second Friday of the month at the Englewood School House. The Lemon Bay Mother’s Club became a leading force in the civic life of Englewood. In the remaining months of World War I, the organization concentrated on Red Cross work. After the war, the Club turned to projects that satisfied immediate needs within the community. One of the community projects undertaken after the war was the creation of a community library at the same schoolhouse where Club meetings were held. By 1922, the Library Committee had covered and indexed over two hundred books. Early in 1923, the Club provided funds for a fence, a flagpole, a flag, and a barrel for drinking water and cups for the Englewood School. In 1924, the Club purchased new chairs for the school. 

1924 brought many changes for the Lemon Bay Mother’s Club. First, at the April 4th meeting, the members voted to change the organization’s name to Lemon Bay Woman’s Club. They also agreed to build their own clubhouse. To facilitate this, Mrs. Stanley Lampp donated a lot of land. The building committee was appointed, with Mrs. Lampp as chairman, and by January 1925, the money for the construction had been raised or pledged. Mr. Thomas Reed Martin and Mr. Clare Hosmer, architects in Sarasota, offered to provide plans for the building free of charge. Construction of the clubhouse began in September of 1925 when three local carpenters engaged as contractors. By early 1926, the clubhouse was completed, and an open house was held on February 19, 1926. Two hundred persons attended the dedication ceremony, including Englewood Mayor John P. Rampe, Chamber of Commerce President H. L. Horton, and Architect Clare Hosmer. 

The new location of the Woman’s Club increased the number of community activities sponsored by or in cooperation with the Club. The Woman’s Club arranged nature study classes, posted bird sanctuary guides, hosted school plays and other forms of drama, provided lectures of educational and entertainment value in addition to card parties, dances, and dinners. The clubhouse was the meeting place for several other organizations, in addition to the Woman’s Club such as the International Order of Odd Fellows, the Rebecca Lodge, the Community Presbyterian Church, and the Englewood Community Church. During the months of February and March of 1927, forty-seven meetings were held in the clubhouse.  

The onset of the Great Depression following the stock market crash of 1929 created many hardships for the community of Englewood. There was little to no money coming into the community, and just providing food and shelter became primary concerns for the small village. Despite this, the ladies of the Woman’s Club persisted in their efforts to provide access for the community to a social center. The clubhouse became the meeting place of almost everyone in Englewood. Plays, Sunday Schools, picnics, poetry readings, luncheons and organizational meetings provided much-needed diversions during the 1930s. In 1936, the clubhouse became the local polling location.  

Lemon Bay Woman's Club, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed December 28th 2020. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77843976.

History, Lemon Bay Woman's Club. Accessed January 22nd 2021. http://www.lemonbaywomansclub.com/history.html.