The Alton Chapter House is a historic building located at 509 Beacon St. in

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. The building was constructed between 1909 and 1910 as a meetinghouse for Alton's chapter of the

American Woman's League The American Woman's League was created by the magazine publisher Edward Gardner Lewis in 1907. In part, it was a maneuver to lower History of United States postage rates, postal rates by appealing to educational and social opportunities that would ...

. The American Woman's League was a political and social organization founded by magazine publisher

Edward Gardner Lewis Edward Gardner Lewis (March 4, 1869 – August 10, 1950) was an American magazine publisher, land development promoter, and political activist. He was the founder of two planned communities that are now cities: University City, Missouri, and Ata ...

in 1908. The organization was created to promote

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

causes, particularly the

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

movement; Lewis also intended for the organization to promote and sell his women's magazines. Lewis commissioned the

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

architectural firm of Helfensteller, Hirsch & Watson to design five classes of buildings which the League would use as meetinghouses. The Alton Chapter House is an example of a Class II building, which was designed for clubs with 60 to 100 members. The building was designed in the

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in ...

style and cost $2,500. After the club disbanded, the building was converted to a private home. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on November 28, 1980. It is one of nine American Woman's League chapter houses on the National Register in Illinois.

References

National Register of Historic Places in Madison County, Illinois Prairie School architecture in Illinois Buildings and structures in Madison County, Illinois Women's club buildings in Illinois Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois History of women in Illinois American Woman's League {{MadisonCountyIL-NRHP-stub