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8.C. - Page 14 of 54 William Kostura, Historic Resource Evaluation of the Redwood City Woman Club in the new Dingee Park subdivision, evidently for free, with the proviso that they raise the funds to build a clubhouse on it. Articles of Incorporation went into effect on September 23rd, 1909. It stated that the mission of the club was, among other points, to Promote acquaintanceship, good fellowship, and cooperation among the women of Redwood City and vicinity. Furnish a recognized center where all questions of importance to the community may be freely discussed and acted upon. Afford an agency through which helpful and uplifting influences may be extended. Aid such worthy causes as may enlist its sympathy. Establish, conduct, and maintain a club house. Provide for the safe keeping and investment of funds. Acquire real property and improve the same. The first of these may have been the primary motivation, at least at first. An unpublished article by Aileen Foster, "This Old House" (1973) relates some of the early history of the Redwood City Woman's Club, and gives credit to Aileen Finkler for setting the wheels in motion. Mrs. Finkler and her husband Harry, the secretary to the State Supreme Court in San Francisco, lived on a large tract of land that is today Edgewood County Park. It was outside the Redwood City limits and a few miles from downtown. While her husband was in San Francisco at work each day, she took care of their sheep and goats, grew grapes and roses, and canned fruits and vegetables. She cooked up a pot of beans each day for hoboes in the vicinity, leaving the kitchen door open for them when she was away. Wrote Foster, "Aileen seemed to think this was the only `charitable' thing to do." This routine wasn't enough for her. She felt isolated, missed the "bright lights" of San Francisco, where she had lived, and also missed the social life of a women's club she had belonged to there. Her San Francisco club friends decided that what Redwood City needed was a women's club of its own. Because Mrs. Finkler lived outside the city limits, the club should be initiated by someone in town, and one of the San Franciscans recommended Mrs. Cumberson, whom she knew. Mary Beeger, the president of Beeger Tannery, agreed that a women's club was needed, and so a critical mass came together to form the club. The club's Articles of Incorporation specified that membership would be open to residents of Redwood City "and vicinity," and the "vicinity" part was for Aileen Finkler's 7 538