The Woman's Club of Olympia was founded in

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. European ...

, United States, in 1883. It is one of the oldest

woman's club The woman's club movement was a social movement that took place throughout the United States that established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While women's organizations had always been a part ...

on the West Coast. Founding members included Mehitable Elder, Pamela Case Hale, Mary Hartsock, Janet Moore, Phebe Moore, Mary Shelton, Ella Stork, Abbie Howard Hunt Stuart, and Sarah E. Whitney. Its first president, Mrs. A.H.H. (Abbie Howard Hunt) Stewart, a college graduate and a veteran of the Women's Club in Boston, was a "driving force" in the club's organization and was known as the "Mother of Women's Clubs" for having founded other clubs, too. Of note was the club's early operation of Olympia's only library facility from 1896–1909 and subsequent assistance obtaining a Carnegie Library grant for a public library. A grant of $25,000 was obtained in 1903, which like other Carnegie grants included requirements for the local community to meet, and led to the building in 1914 of the Olympia Public Library. The library had 900 books when it was turned over to the city to operate in 1909. With Note the photo documentation includes mention of the 1903 date of Carnegie grant, consistent with other information on Carnegie libraries in Washington. the club is still active. It is a member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs.

Building

The Woman's Club of Olympia was built in 1908. It replaced the original clubhouse purchased in 1900 that was destroyed by fire in 1907. Members raised $2,500 for the new clubhouse. The current building was listed on 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 ...

in 1979 as Woman's Club. It is a three-story

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

building, in plan. With It is also known as the Abigail Stuart House.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woman's Club of Olympia Women's clubs in the United States Women's club buildings National Register of Historic Places in Thurston County, Washington Buildings and structures completed in 1908 History of women in Washington (state)