A Cornerstone of the Community

During Palo Alto's formative years, the Club was the women's arm of local government and school affairs at a time when women were ineligible to vote or hold political offices.

Uniting people and place, the Woman's Club of Palo Alto builds on a proud history of public engagement. Our members apply themselves in creative and philanthropic ways to accomplish great things both in the local community and within the club.

The Woman's Club of Palo Alto is a member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs as well as the California Federation of Women's Clubs.  We have the largest number of members of any women’s club in California.  

Woman's Club or Women's Club?

The official name of the club is the Woman's Club of Palo Alto, not the Women's Club of Palo Alto or Palo Alto Women's Club (despite the sign at our venue) 

By using the original name, the Woman's Club of Palo Alto, we strive to honor our historic roots and express gratitude for the intense activism of our early members.

The Woman’s Club of Palo Alto originated in the 19th century during the Woman’s Suffrage movement and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Movement. Alice Park, an active club member, worked hard for women’s rights locally and abroad and Emily Pardee Karns Dixon, twice president of the Woman's Club of Palo Alto, led the successful local drive for California women’s voting rights in 1911.

Philanthropy

Each year, the Woman’s Club of Palo Alto awards grants to nonprofit organizations in the local community.

Grants Recipients

Making dreams a reality.

After a year of planning, a group of women in the Stanford Mother's Club organized a meeting in the old Presbyterian Church at the corner of Hamilton and Waverly to draft a membership constitution. On June 20, 1894, they formally incorporated as the Woman’s Club of Palo Alto with 24 members. Mary Grafton Campbell was elected president and served in that office through 1898. 

The club founders dreamt of having their own clubhouse. By 1906, they had raised $1,000 and purchased a lot on the corner of Homer Avenue and Cowper Street. At the time, they worried that this property was “too far out in the country”! It took 10 more years of continuous fundraising to collect $5,300 to begin construction of their Tudor Craftsman-style “home.”  Charles E. Hodges, a noted architect of the day, designed the building. As so often happens, there were cost overruns and final cost of construction was $10,590. In September 1916, 400 Palo Alto residents attended a gala celebration to mark the completion of this charming building.  View the full historical timeline →

The Collect

Advocating for women. Driving Change. 

Public Library

In 1901, before Carnegie funds were granted, the Woman’s Club circulated a petition requesting a public library. The necessary number of signatures was acquired and the city was compelled, according to state law, to provide a public library. Founding the library took countless hours of fundraising, holding book socials and applying for a grant to build the first town library. The Woman’s Club rented a space, staffed it with volunteers, and donated the first books.

Education Groundwork

Every year, schools were high on the club agenda. The club donated art for classrooms, petitioned for better pay for teachers, paid all the expenses of a gymnasium, and argued for free textbooks. To this day, the club has a scholarship fund. At the request of teachers, the club hosted home and school meetings—the predecessor of the PTA. In 1909, the club nominated a member to serve on the Board of School Trustees. Our member, Mrs. C.L. Place, was the first woman elected to any Palo Alto office.

Crisis Response

The club has a history of responding to crises. During the typhoid epidemic of 1903, it delivered food to the sick. In 1906, it helped San Francisco earthquake refugees. The Woman's Club provided hospitality to Camp Fremont soldiers and their families during World War I. The club sent money and supplies to Watsonville, hard-hit by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Responding to hurricane relief efforts in 2005, the club engaged in fundraising to support needs in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Women's Rights

From 1909 to 1911, Woman's Club of Palo Alto members Alice Park and Emily Pardee Karns led the way in the successful Palo Alto campaign for women's suffrage. A ballot measure for women’s suffrage failed in California by a slim margin in 1896 (although Palo Alto had voted in favor). In 1909, the Woman’s Club nominated Mrs. Place to be a candidate for the school board. Her victory primed the public for the women’s suffrage amendment which was again presented to California voters in 1911.   

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