The CLEVELAND WOMAN'S CLUB provided Cleveland women with a place to hold meetings, entertain guests, and attend lectures and musical entertainments for more than 30 years. Set up as the not-for-profit Womens' Club House Assn. in 1908, the organization changed its charter to become a for-profit body in 1910 so as to realize its objectives. In 1912 the club's directors authorized a lease on temporary quarters in the new CLEVELAND ATHLETIC CLUB Bldg. at 1146 Euclid. Though the club's purpose was largely social, music, literature, and art were promoted among the members, as was an acquaintance with civic affairs. Club facilities were made available for concerts and other cultural activities and for roundtable discussions. In 1914 the club made its long-anticipated move into a permanent home, the JAMES JARED TRACY mansion at 3535 Euclid Ave. Within 7 years the club raised the funds to purchase the property, but the ownership was short-lived, and in 1926 the club sold it to the Masonic Order. The Cleveland Woman's Club continued to rent the home until 1942, when FENN COLLEGE leased the premises for use as a training center for Air Force recruits. The mansion was razed to make way for a parking lot for the Masonic Auditorium in 1951. Perhaps a victim of changing roles that cast women as wartime wage earners, with less leisure to pursue clubwork, the club disappeared from the telephone directory in 1942.
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