Massillon Woman’s Club Video

[01:30.000] We begin by setting the scene. That is to look at Maslin as it was in the spring of 1919. [01:43.400] The population was less than 17,000 residents. The dreadful flu epidemic of the past winter [01:51.900] had just run its course. The armistice had been signed in November of 1918, ending World [01:59.920] War I, but the Kaiser had yet to sign the peace treaty. [02:05.320] Newspaper headlines told of trainloads of troops returning [02:09.920] from France every week, while in back pages of the same [02:14.240] newspapers were listed of dead, wounded, and missing boys. [02:21.360] It must have been truly a bittersweet time. [02:26.280] The area had major problems. [02:29.040] Tuberculosis was common. [02:31.340] Unemployment was high and jobs availability low. [02:37.080] There was a coal and housing shortage [02:40.040] and rapidly rising prices, especially of food. [02:44.720] The streets were in deplorable condition. [02:48.100] There was very little paving [02:49.960] and no designated parking spaces. [02:53.420] They did have two streetcars. [02:56.040] One ran north and south on Erie Street, [03:00.080] and the other east and west on Lincoln Street. [03:03.880] It was the first year automobiles were [03:06.480] required to be licensed. [03:08.920] And the Automobile Club reported 800 registrations. [03:14.460] Most people still used horse and buggy or walked. [03:19.240] It was not until June that the Auto Club posted stop signs [03:24.600] at intersections and marked designated space to park [03:29.520] as well as danger areas such as schools and hospitals. [03:34.560] Sample ads in the newspaper, Lincoln Theater, [03:38.440] Mary Pickford, the Boston store, a coupon sale, [03:44.160] electric Thor washing machines, trade in here washboard, [03:49.480] Easter cards, two cents. [03:52.160] Women still could not vote. The 19th Amendment adopted by the Senate on June 4th, 1919 was not ratified by all states until September 1920. [04:08.160] It was on Tuesday, April 9th, 1919, that the Red Cross announced they were closing their [04:17.760] Maslin chapter. [04:19.860] And on that day, a small group of women met at the Chamber of Commerce office at City [04:26.120] Hall to talk about organizing a club for the women of Maslin. [04:33.060] They were all in agreement and named Mrs. Anne Day Hunt as President Pro Tem. [04:40.980] Mrs. Hunt was later elected President of the club in 1927. [04:47.460] The group agreed to work together to write the objective, constitution, and bylaws for [04:54.260] the club. [04:55.420] The news was spread by word of mouth and on May 26, 70 women gathered at the city hall [05:03.980] to hear the proposal. [05:06.640] It was adopted unanimously and that day 66 of the women became charter members of the [05:14.700] Maslin Women's Club. [05:17.240] A nominating committee was named and 12 directors or as we know them, board members were elected. [05:25.420] They, in turn, elected officers with Mrs. Paul Geiger becoming our first president. [05:33.660] She served two consecutive terms, 1919 to 1921, and until 2004 to 2006, was the only [05:45.740] president to do so. [05:50.020] were made immediately for a one-week citywide membership campaign and it was clearly stated [05:58.260] that membership was to be offered to every woman in Maslin. [06:04.140] Annual dues were $2 with a one-time initiation fee of $3. [06:11.100] Their goal was to have 500 members by the first week of July. [06:18.140] They organized in teams of two and set out to visit every section of Maslin. [06:25.880] And by Thursday, July 3rd, the fourth day, had enrolled 630 members, totaling 696. [06:37.900] Can't you just visualize these ladies scurrying all over the city? [06:44.220] Immediately, President Geiger appointed committees to organize the various departments of interest [06:51.620] and study. [06:53.500] Today we call these departments sections. [06:58.260] This work would take until fall to complete. [07:02.300] Meanwhile, Mrs. Geiger established the civic department, which immediately began the urgent [07:11.500] business of city improvement. The committees formed were sanitation, legislation, local [07:22.500] activities, hospitals, hospitality, and location committee to find permanent quarters for the [07:31.620] the Women's Club. [07:34.560] A vital concern among the women of Maslin was the profiteering, as it was called, by [07:42.020] grocers and shopkeepers. [07:44.640] The grocers purchased local produce at low cost but charged the public outrageous prices. [07:52.980] The original goal of the sanitation committee was to monitor cleanliness and food handling [07:59.880] by grocers. They now felt the need to confront the highly inflated prices as well as improving [08:08.520] sanitary conditions. In early July, the ladies on the sanitation committee came up with the [08:17.740] idea of a curb market known today as farmer's market. Mrs. J. M. Lester was named to head [08:24.740] M. Lester was named to head the market committee. [08:30.580] City officials gave their approval. [08:33.520] Area farmers were approached and agreements were made. [08:38.480] The first market was held on Friday, July 17th, [08:43.320] and continued each Tuesday and Friday [08:46.440] through the end of October on the corner of Canal [08:50.700] and Cherry Street, [08:51.940] close to where the Rec Center is today. [08:56.220] The farmers came to town at 5 a.m. [08:59.340] and were met by the members of the market committee. [09:02.940] Prices were agreed upon and posted. [09:06.780] This was a benefit to both farmers and shoppers. [09:11.140] The market opened at 6 a.m. for business. [09:14.760] You can imagine how early the ladies had to get up [09:18.180] to be there by 5 a.m. [09:20.880] They wanted to be on hand to monitor prices [09:24.580] and to ensure produce was handled [09:26.920] in as clean and sanitary a manner as possible. [09:31.720] All garden or orchard harvest was sold [09:35.200] plus fresh eggs and live chickens. [09:39.160] The summer of 1919 was lively. [09:43.260] The newspapers were full of price gouging by shop owners. [09:48.120] Late in July, there was an incident when a prominent grocer named Louis set up his own stand at the curb market and charged higher prices than those agreed upon. [10:01.560] Mrs. Ida Cabot of the committee confronted Mr. Louis, so he moved a block away and set up his stand again. [10:11.240] The police were called and he was arrested for disorderly conduct and fined. [10:18.120] Shortly after Mrs. Lester announced that the Civic Department was going to organize all [10:24.520] housewives to boycott local storekeepers and owners to protest the high prices of food, [10:31.400] meat, clothing, shoes, and also high rent, she declared profiteering a menace to the [10:38.960] community and vowed to lower prices at the curb market even more. [10:45.200] At that time, the county prosecutor decided he had better look into the matter and sent [10:51.920] a special investigator to see if there was anything to the charges being leveled. [10:59.480] Within two days, he had enough evidence to convene a grand jury, which was done immediately. [11:08.680] Grocers continued for several weeks with grocers, wholesalers, transporters, and consumers called [11:16.520] to testify. [11:18.520] The curb markets were peaceful and housewives got good produce for fair prices. [11:24.980] In July, the Grand Jury found evidence of profiteering but allowed shopkeepers to plea [11:33.420] bargain. [11:35.040] They agreed to lower their prices and life in Maslin returned to normal. [11:42.800] An original concern of the sanitation committee of the civic department was for the improvement [11:49.380] of cleanliness in local stores which handled food. [11:54.520] The sanitation committee members visited these places on a regular basis. [12:01.120] They kept logs and written reports on what they found. [12:05.680] Reports and resolutions were presented to city council [12:10.120] because there were no standards set by the city. [12:14.280] There was also no rule by the city for garbage pickup [12:18.680] and for stores or homes. [12:21.480] In the 1919 newspapers, there was no mention of a solution [12:27.160] to this complicated problem. [12:29.740] but we might suspect that the storekeepers voluntarily cleaned up their places in self-defense. [12:37.500] Along those lines, the civic section ladies worked to provide educational programs through [12:44.860] their department and other section meetings about good nutrition, proper handling of food, [12:52.780] and improved cleanliness. [12:55.300] They stressed the necessity of having screens on doors and windows to keep out flies. [13:03.340] In the summer of 1920, as a way to help educate children about diseases spread by flies, a [13:11.560] citywide fly swatting contest was held and a prize given to the boy or girl who killed [13:19.000] the most flies. [13:21.000] Since no details were given as to how the flies were counted, we leave that to your imagination. [13:29.320] Still the club had no meeting place, and meetings were held in churches, schools, the council [13:38.200] hall, and even some homes. [13:42.480] Some of the meetings and programs about cleanliness were open to the public with childcare provided [13:50.160] so mothers with young children could attend. [13:55.320] Another concern for the women of the club [13:59.200] was the need for a school nurse. [14:01.940] Several meetings were held on this subject [14:05.180] and a committee was appointed to study the situation. [14:08.980] The city nurse was expected to cover calls [14:12.720] from local citizens as well as calls from the nine schools [14:17.520] whenever there was a sick child. [14:20.160] The committee conferred with Superintendent L.E. York and the Board of Education about their concerns. [14:29.160] They were successful in stating their case, and a nurse was hired for the beginning of the 1920 school year. [14:39.160] In addition, the committee crusaded for a milk fund for underprivileged children. [14:46.160] This was accomplished through the City Social Services Fund. [14:51.160] Meanwhile, the Location Committee was having a difficult time finding a meeting place for the Women's Club. [14:59.160] Sections were still meeting at churches, public buildings, and homes. [15:05.160] The first regular meeting of the civic section was held in September 1919 at the First Methodist Church with 400 members in attendance. [15:20.160] The speaker was a young attorney from Cleveland named Amy Inman. [15:26.160] She was there to urge women to support female teachers against prejudice by joining a letter writing campaign to support the tenure bill, which they did vigorously. [15:41.160] At the same meeting, Edna McClellan Wales rose to speak for herself and her sister Ruth [15:48.860] McClellan's Maitland and offered to allow the club to use their family home as clubhouse [15:56.620] for the Maslin Women's Club. [15:59.520] The home, known as Five Oaks, had been empty for over seven years since the deaths of Walter [16:06.940] and Flora McClellan. [16:09.400] The women descended on the house with mop and pale in hand. [16:14.040] It was cleaned until it shone from top to bottom. [16:17.760] Since only the dining room and kitchen were furnished and there were no floor coverings, [16:24.440] money for furnishings needed to be raised. [16:28.000] The concert, scheduled for November 22nd at Washington High School, supplied sons to purchase [16:35.400] kitchen chairs and straw mats for the floors. Additional funds for furnishings [16:41.760] were solicited from other sources. On December 5th 1919 two receptions were [16:49.920] held, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Over 500 women attended. The [16:57.220] first actual club meeting held at Five Oaks was in January 1920. Since then this [17:05.280] Great Hall has heard and seen many speakers from government officials to [17:10.940] Dorothy Fultheim. Most lectures in the early years were free and open to the [17:16.520] public. At times the crowd was so great that people sat on the stairs and on the [17:22.600] balcony above. An activity that was important to those early members was the [17:29.920] wish to include immigrants or aliens, as they were called then, in the community. [17:36.560] Americanization classes were held in the city in 1920, where these immigrants [17:43.120] learned to speak English and heard about some of our customs. [17:48.120] This had been discussed at one of the earliest civic department meetings, [17:53.320] and the women of the club participated by hosting a party to celebrate [17:58.960] the success of the classes when they ended. [18:02.260] They invited 75 students and their wives [18:05.920] to a party at Five Oaks. [18:08.160] The program consisted of an exchange of ethnic music [18:12.960] and dancing of the students and women of the club. [18:16.940] Following the program, [18:18.800] the dance and refreshments were enjoyed in the ballroom. [18:24.120] Today, our club members take great pride [18:26.820] in the heritage left to us [18:28.640] by the ladies of the club. [18:31.160] It is a constant reminder of our responsibility [18:34.460] to continue their community involvement [18:37.460] with the same heart and courage, [18:39.900] never forgetting to bring improvement [18:42.320] to that same community and for our fellow women. [18:47.980] An immediate area of concern that summer [18:50.760] was the condition of the parks. [18:53.500] Cippo Park and Oak Knoll Park were established on land [18:57.520] donated to the city by the McClimans family. [19:02.160] In June, 1920, the women set out to show the city council [19:07.320] and Chamber of Commerce what a city park should be. [19:11.720] They organized a spring festival to be held in Sippo Park. [19:16.920] It was attended by several thousand Mascellonians. [19:20.840] They persuaded the Gas and Electric Company [19:23.880] and a local contractor to install temporary lighting [19:27.840] in the park for no charge, [19:30.120] and solicited a number of companies and businesses [19:33.920] to provide the refreshments. [19:36.340] Brown Lumber built the platform for the stage, [19:39.720] and by working through the Board of Education, [19:42.800] they had a program presented by school children [19:45.680] on that stage. [19:47.560] There were nine schools, [19:49.160] and each one was responsible for a part of the program. [19:53.760] The club women supervised and handed out refreshments [19:57.700] to all children who attended. [20:00.240] It was called a great success by the evening independent. [20:04.700] In September 1920, women finally won the right to vote [20:09.880] with the ratification of the 19th Amendment. [20:13.360] Following this, there was a flurry of activities [20:16.840] at the women's club. [20:18.640] Speakers were brought in from the board of elections, [20:21.920] classes were held, legislators and other public officials spoke. [20:27.620] The women were well prepared to vote in their first election. [20:31.880] The following year in 1921, [20:35.560] Edna McCliman's Wales became president of the women's club and chairman of the [20:40.980] civic section. [20:42.640] There was discontent with the Maslin school board and two Maslin women's club [20:47.640] Club board members, Mrs. A.P.L.P.'s and Mrs. H.H. Ross, agreed to run for posts on the school [20:56.400] board in the November election. They were nominated, endorsed, campaigned for, and elected. [21:06.540] They both remained on the school board for several years. Other women from the women's [21:12.480] became prominent in city affairs. [21:15.480] For example, the first president of our club, Mrs. Geiger, [21:20.480] was named chairman of the mayor's market committee [21:24.480] and part of his cabinet. [21:26.480] In October of 1924, Edna Wales and Ruth Maitland, [21:32.480] the McClymon sisters, [21:34.480] pleased with the strength and dedication of the Mass and Women's Club, [21:38.480] made a gift of their childhood home, Five Oaks, [21:41.480] to be used as a permanent meeting place for the club. The deed was read out loud [21:47.480] for all to hear at an open meeting and a bronze tablet was hung in the Great Hall [21:54.000] declaring the sisters trust and love for the women of the club. According to the [22:00.400] sisters every woman in Maslin should be welcomed as a member and the home cared [22:06.660] for and maintained in its original condition. Hearing the joyful news that [22:14.100] Five Oaks was now their permanent home, the members began to put their dreams [22:19.260] into action. In 1928, at a regular meeting of the Civic Section, then-president [22:26.880] Mrs. Ann Day Hunt proposed that the members purchase a greatly desired piano [22:33.020] piano for the Great Hall. [22:35.560] She was greeted with enthusiasm and after a discussion, [22:39.460] a vote was taken to collect subscriptions, [22:42.860] ranging from $5 to $100. [22:46.360] The ladies gladly contributed to the piano fund, [22:50.560] and $1700 was raised. [22:54.800] D.W. Lurch, a representative of the Steinway Company, [22:59.480] special pains to find just the right instrument for the club. The signature of the Steinway [23:06.140] family member in the company appears under the lid. For 91 years, members and guests [23:13.880] have enjoyed its unusual sweetness and fullness of tone. [23:19.260] During the depression years, the ladies of the club were called upon to assist others [23:24.140] in the community who were less fortunate. [23:27.540] Physicians delivering babies at home saw the need for baby supplies for expected mothers. [23:34.300] Word soon got back to the women of the club who took action and began making clothing [23:39.820] and bedding for newborns. [23:41.940] A thrift shop was created in the basement of Five Oaks where members brought good used [23:47.380] clothing and shoes, which were sold at low prices to the public. [23:53.260] During the years just prior to America's entry into World War II, gala events were celebrated [24:00.160] at the club. [24:01.480] The pre-McKinley Game Party, annual Christmas Bazaar, and various musical programs were [24:07.620] frequent. [24:08.900] When the United States entered the war, the club members participated fully in the war [24:14.300] effort. [24:15.460] The philanthropic section sewed at a city hospital and at the club, making gowns, sheets, and [24:22.940] Towels. Thousands of hours volunteering for the Red Cross were attributed to the [24:29.220] club in the areas of blood donor service, motor corps, and war bond drives. [24:36.460] Civilian defense was assisted by many club women who worked as block leaders [24:42.660] and rationing clerks. The members staffed bond booths and sold both war bonds and [24:49.180] stamps. The club extended hospitality to cadet nurses at Maslin Hospital by [24:56.140] inviting them to attend luncheons and dinners. The 1950s saw the return to a [25:02.680] feeling of joy in life. Events at the club mirrored this happier view. The [25:08.680] sections hosted many musical programs celebrating the change of seasons and [25:14.320] and historical eras. [25:16.480] A drama section was organized in 1951, [25:20.360] and the theatrical productions became popular for ladies. [25:24.680] They loved to perform in costume, [25:26.900] the early history of Maslin. [25:29.460] Ohio's Susque Centennial in 1953 [25:34.100] was celebrated in just that fashion. [25:37.120] Style shows and dessert card parties [25:40.360] were much loved fundraisers, [25:43.200] as were guest speakers, book reviewers, [25:46.440] and white elephant sales. [25:48.680] Dorothy Gish, a celebrated actress, [25:51.720] was a frequent visitor to her aunt on 4th Street. [25:55.680] In 1956, Dorothy was honored at a dessert party [26:00.280] where she entertained members with stories [26:02.600] of her travels and stage performances. [26:06.520] In 1969, the Mass and Woman's Club celebrated [26:10.680] its 50th birthday with various programs, [26:13.920] both musical and literary. [26:16.560] A mother-daughter banquet was celebrated at the club [26:20.520] and encouraged the passing of the torch [26:23.160] to these younger women as members. [26:25.980] Other 1960s popular programs included lectures [26:30.220] on entertaining with a new acceptance of the casual party. [26:34.880] The First Ladies also became a popular subject [26:38.740] as Mrs. John Kennedy's style and grace were emulated. [26:43.500] The bicentennial of the United States [26:46.800] was the biggest event of the 1970s. [26:50.160] Plans were laid for many months for community celebrations. [26:55.320] This decade was of extreme importance to the club [26:59.280] as our membership realized what an impact [27:02.040] our beautiful home made in the city of Matherlin. [27:05.300] It was the women's club officers who successfully applied to the National Park Service for five [27:13.460] oaks to be added to the National Registry of Historic Homes. [27:18.700] On April 24, 1973, the National Registry request was granted. [27:26.060] Several months later, flooding from mortar failing revealed our beautiful house was in [27:31.580] dire need of expensive repair. [27:34.980] At this time, the McClimans heirs were approached and agreed that Five Oaks could be transferred [27:41.700] to an organization that could solicit funds and seek out other avenues for funding the [27:47.820] repairs that were not open to the club. [27:51.700] The Maslin Heritage Foundation, Inc. was formed in 1975 as a charitable nonprofit approved [28:01.420] to carry on preservation and restoration at Five Oaks. [28:06.300] Tours of Five Oaks began as a requirement of inclusion [28:10.900] on the historic register, [28:12.860] and those tours have continued to be popular to this day. [28:17.500] In the decades since, [28:19.960] our club members have continued the mission and focus [28:23.020] of our charter members. [28:25.020] We have seen sections dissolve and new ones form. [28:29.560] We still host delightful musical programs, fascinating speakers, authors, and colorful [28:36.960] community members. [28:38.980] We are well known in the community for philanthropic endeavors and elegant events. [28:45.900] All of these volunteer efforts assist us in fulfilling our promise to the McCliman sisters [28:52.400] that we would keep this house as it was given to us. [28:56.080] And we have fun doing it all.