Historians point out that on August 1, 1909, St. Cloud had three tents, two houses, twenty people. Thirteen months later, St. Cloud had a post office, four hotels, three bakeries, six churches, four lumber yards, a light plant, and a few telephones. In addition, it had one lady barber, three barber shops, four insurance agents, several veterans’ organizations, a Ladies Improvement Club, $8,000 monthly in pensions, a population of 2000, but no saloons.

 

The Woman’s Club was organized in a Gospel Tent, March 14, 1910. It was named the St. Cloud Ladies Improvement Club on June 22, 1910. On January 11, 1911 the Club incorporated. A Charter was approved March 20, 1911 and filed on June 13, 1911. The St. Cloud Ladies Improvement Club became federated on April 4, 1917.

 

The name was changed on May 7, 1941 to The Woman’s Club of St. Cloud and again was incorporated in March 1981.  The yellow allamanda was the first club flower. The red hibiscus was adopted in 1941 and the club colors are red and green. That same year, the Collect by Mary Stewart was adopted and is still in use. The very first Motto was “We must press on to perfection, we cannot drift there (or here.)”

 

The objectives of the Club were to promote civic improvement and literary advancement. There were no dues the first year. They ranged from $3.00 in those early years to the present fee of $25.00 a year. Meetings were held every two weeks until 1975 when meetings were set for the third Wednesday of the month. Right away, the ladies established traveling libraries, a depot reading table, and a small building was purchased for a reading room. Literacy had become the main project of the club and still is.

 

When the club was scarcely a month old, April 27, 1910, it voted on to try to secure land from the Seminole Land and Investment Company, Inc. Thus, Station Park was formed on June 8, 1910. Several other parks were obtained such as East West Park and Oak Grove Park. In 1912 another park was procured and given to the city. The shuffleboard courts and Community House are in this park.

 

Library lots were purchased in 1917.  The Veterans Memorial Library was built in 1923. Members commissioned Isabelle Roberts and Anna Ida Ryan to design the building. The members held fundraisers such as dinners, bake sales, and ice cream socials for the building fund. In 1917, the National Bank failed and the club lost 40% of its money. Nevertheless, fundraising was begun once more and, a few years later, the Veterans Memorial Library came to be. The library and Woman’s Club Building were put on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.

 

MEETINGS 

 

General membership meetings are held monthly from September through May on the third Wednesday of the month at 12:15 P.M. A variety of interesting and educational programs is presented and members are always welcome to invite friends to join them. Meetings are held in the Woman’s Club Building, built in 1949.

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