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8.C. - Page 17 of 54
<br />William Kostura, Historic Resource Evaluation of the Redwood City Woman Club
<br />opening celebration of the Redwood City Woman's Club's new clubhouse in 1911, and
<br />the Redwood City club seems to have always sent a representative to the federation's
<br />statewide meeting. A close relationship seems to have been maintained between the local
<br />and state organizations.
<br />Several women's clubs already existed in San Francisco at the time the Redwood City
<br />club formed. Among them were the Native Daughters of the Golden West (founded in
<br />1886), the Town and Country Club (1893), the California Club of California (1897), and
<br />the Francisca Club (1903) — all still in existence today. Besides these there were many
<br />women's groups with religious, educational, fraternal, and benevolent affiliations.
<br />Whether any of these belonged to the California Federation of Women's Clubs, or
<br />maintained close contact with the Redwood City club, has not been researched for this
<br />report.
<br />The club members
<br />The Redwood City Woman's Club had a moderately diverse membership within a year of
<br />its formation. This was not true in a racial sense, but rather as far as occupational class
<br />was concerned.
<br />When it was founded the club had from 30 to 35 members (accounts differ). By 1910 the
<br />membership was up to fifty, and in 1911 it grew to 86. In that year, 68 of the members
<br />were married and eighteen were single. The great majority lived in Redwood City, as
<br />would be expected, while the exceptions were somewhat far-flung: Woodside (three
<br />members), San Carlos (two), Belmont, San Mateo, San Francisco, Sacramento,
<br />Beresford, Ukiah, and St. Louis, Missouri.
<br />Bowing to convention, nearly all of the married women went by their husband's names,
<br />e.g. Mrs. George Merrill, Mrs. Morris Cooper, and so forth. About 80 percent of these
<br />women, or (usually) their husbands, were listed in the Redwood City directories of 1909
<br />and 1912, and so something of their income status is known.
<br />21 women, by far the largest group, were the wives of professionals or civil servants.
<br />Within this group there was a wide range of likely incomes. At the top level were
<br />attorneys, the county clerk, the city marshal, the county sheriff, and a broker. Next, most
<br />likely, were owners and a manager of real estate and title abstract companies, the
<br />principal of Lick High School in San Francisco, a dentist, and the secretary of the
<br />California Supreme Court. Perhaps the lowest paid among these professional husbands
<br />were the Congregational Church pastor, a school teacher, the "roadmaster" of the Third
<br />District, two assistant cashiers at banks, and a clerk.
<br />Several husbands were contractors or other business owners. They included two building
<br />contractors, the owner of a draying and teaming business, the co-owner of a planning
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