National Register Listing

Port Arthur Federated Women's Clubhouse

a.k.a. The Department Clubhouse

1924 Lakeshore Dr., Port Arthur, TX

<p>The Port Arthur Federated Women's Club building is headquarters for a prestigious and progressive league of women's clubs which date from Port Arthur's founding. Clubwomen have contributed substantially to Port Arthur's social, cultural and political life throughout its history. The building was constructed in 1924 and has been used ever since as headquarters for clubwomen. Designed by Charles L. Wignall, a respected Port Arthur architect, it is one of the most pretentiously designed Bungaloid structures in town. The building's design and location in Lakeshore Park in what was once the most fashionable part of town are conspicuous reminders of the club's prominence in the community.</p><p>Port Arthur's origins coincide with the decade when the clubwoman movement came of age in America. Between 1868 and 1890, women's culture, self-improvement, and civic clubs pro- liferated throughout the nation, but they lacked organization. With the founding of the General Federation of Women's Clubs in 1890, culture clubs gained an organizational structure, official status, and the potential to make themselves heard as a united voice. Their emphasis on personal, cultural and civic improvement appealed to vast numbers of women, and that fact enabled them to play a significant role within the progressive feminist movement around the turn of the century and later. Soon after the founding of the General Federation, the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs was organized in 1897.</p><p>The town of Port Arthur was established in 1896 by Arthur Stilwell as a southern terminus for his Kansas City Southern Railroad. It numbered only a few hundred residents when the clubwoman emerged in the community. In 1898 a small group of women organized the Women's Self-Improvement and Culture Club (W.S.I.) for the purpose of becoming better informed about the mainstream of the moderately progressive, 30-year-old clubwomen's movement only two years after the town's founding.</p><p>Discovery of the Spindletop Oil Field in 1901 caused explosive growth for Port Arthur. With growth came new women's clubs. More important was clubwomen's recognition that together they could influence women's issues more successfully than apart. Thus in 1911, the Reading Club, formed by members of the W.S.I., and the Symphony Club founded the Department Club. They elected as their first president Mrs. G. H. (Jessie) Eubank whose husband was prominent in the Chamber of Commerce.</p><p>By 1923, the Department Club included at least six affiliates, each individually federated with the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs. They were the Reading Clubs, Symphony Club, W.S.I., Civic Club, Young Women's Culture Club and the Council of Jewish Women. Their names suggest the specific cultural or civic focus of their endeavors. Although diverse in interest, they were united in their goal to improve the quality of life for their community, its women and children. Their work by 1923 had already earned them considerable respect and influence in the community.</p><p>The list of clubwomen's contributions to Port Arthur from 1898 until today is too lengthy to cite, but a few activities dating from the era of the building's construction are worth mentioning. Clubwomen have sponsored both Campfire and Horizon clubs' activities in Port Arthur, and a room in the new clubhouse was designed for Campfire use. The Symphony Club established scholarships for musically promising students in Port Arthur schools and im- ported the cultural performances of Chatauqua to the town during the late 1920. The Reading Club granted awards to Port Arthur students for literary excellence. The clubhouse became a community center for art productions and social events and served that purpose until the late 1950s. Port Arthur was among the earliest Texas communities to elect a woman to its school board, an event that was credited to the efforts of clubwomen.</p><p>The Port Arthur federation gained prominence beyond the local level through the district offices and activities of Mrs. J. C. (Jessie) Reynolds of Port Arthur. Wife of a prominent attorney, Mrs. Reynolds had co-founded the Civic Club, was a charter member of the older W.S.I. and had served as president of the Department Club in 1921. During the 1920s, she and the Civic Club had received an award from the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs for an outstanding study of international affairs.</p><p>A club disaster in 1923 and the community's response to that event reveal more about the club's prominence in Port Arthur and the history of the building. On January 17, 1923, the Elks Theater Club building where the Department Club had been holding meetings, was de- stroyed by fire. Also destroyed were all club records and furnishings. With their president, Mrs. A. F. Graham, clubwomen proposed to build their own permanent headquarters, and their proposal gained wide community support. Merchants donated funds, individuals gave goods and/or labor, and the city donated parkland for the building site.</p><p>Among those donations were plants for landscaping the grounds. Another significant donation were the architectural plans for the building's design. Charles L. Wignall, one of only two architects known to be practicing in Port Arthur at the time, was an individual of local prominence. With two Beaumont architects, he also designed the Sub-Courthouse, a uni- que auxiliary courthouse located in Port Arthur. Wignall practiced in Port Arthur for more than 30 years and died in the early 1950s.</p><p>The parkland where the club building is situated was also donated. Mrs. Adele Wignall, wife of the architect and chairman of the committee whose task it was to secure a site and plans for the building, and Mrs. R. E. (Tommie) Latimer, whose husband was U.S. Collector of Customs, appeared before City Council in 1923 and requested that the clubhouse be located in Lakeshore Park. That location was both the center of town and its most scenic and pres- tigious area. Because of the club's service to the community and its plan for the building to serve as a center for all women's activities, Wignall and Latimer's request was granted. That agreement was formalized three years later through a 99-year lease, with the club re- taining ownership of the building.</p><p>The building was completed under the presidency of Mrs. K. A. Young, wife of the dis- trict foreman of the Texas and Fort Smith Railway, and ready for the first club session in the spring of 1924. Its total cost is believed to have been about $8,000, all raised by donations from the community by clubmembers.</p><p>J. H. Baxter is reported as contractor for the work. President of Baxter Roofing Com- pany and the Securities and Investment Company, and later Griffin Lumber Company, Baxter was very well known in Port Arthur and active in contracting work for almost 50 years. His name is associated with a number of Port Arthur's prominent buildings.</p>

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1985.