Helen Combs, left, and Wanda Fosnaugh read together from a booklet during the opening of the Woman's Club of St. Cloud meeting March 17. The club celebrated its centennial earlier this month.

By Brian McBride
Associate Editor

On March 14, 1910, a small group of women met in a St. Cloud gospel tent to pledge their dedication to civic improvements in their community. One hundred years later, that pledge has never wavered.

The Woman's Club of St. Cloud proudly celebrated its centennial March 14 with a bash at its headquarters at 1014 Massachusetts Ave., reveling in the fact that it has withstood the test of time.

“I think it's existed because of the reason why it was started,” club Vice President Charmaine Baust said. “I think it was civic-minded women who care where they live.”

It's also a group of women who took action to promote change, such as picketing City Hall for the right to vote and helping to shut down a house of ill-repute on the east side of town in the early 1900s and later establishing the St. Cloud Heritage Museum in 2005.

“We're not just a group of women here to socialize,” President Irene Hudelson said. “We're here to enrich the community.”

The Woman’s Club annually provides donations to area nonprofit groups and scholarships for students attending St. Cloud area high schools. It's making a difference in the community as shown through thank you letters read at a March 17 club meeting sent by recipients of the club's monetary kindness.

“We try to give back to the community any way we can,” Hudelson said.

The membership, currently about 66 women, meets the third Wednesday of each month, to discuss club business and to hear from a scheduled speaker, which has ranged from Osceola County Animal Control officials to old-Florida storytellers to biologists speaking about state beaches. The club tries to book speakers who keep the interest of the entire base.

“We don't want our members falling asleep,” Hudelson said.

Club officials said certainly one of their most significant achievements for the group was establishing the museum, which began as a small library, according to historical data.

Known in 1910 as the Ladies Improvement Club, the woman’s group took on several community improvement projects, including building a library for the rapidly growing little town. Soon, it had established a traveling library and a table at the train depot with reading materials for the public.

Back then, one large tent was used for community worship and other gatherings. Located on Massachusetts Avenue between 10th and 11th streets, the tent is where the group met before the club building was constructed.

In 1911, a small 6-by-12-foot building on Pennsylvania Avenue was purchased by the club for $75 and was christened the free reading room. Reading materials were placed inside and the women put up shelves, trying to make the place a comfortable reading room.

In a few short years, the library collection had outgrown the little building on Pennsylvania Avenue and later was moved to the second floor of City Hall, at the corner of Florida Avenue and 10th Street.

With the help of fundraising efforts from the club, the Veterans Memorial Library was dedicated on Feb. 17, 1923. From the day of dedication until 1968, the library was continuously maintained and operated by the Woman's Club of St. Cloud (the name changed from Ladies Improvement Club in 1941). In 1968, the Veterans Memorial Library became part of the Osceola Library System. And in 1972-74, the county moved the library holdings to a former bank building at the corner of New York Avenue and 10th Street.

From 1974 until 2000, the Veterans Memorial Library building was rented as a re-sale shop to benefit the Red Cross and also to other groups and individuals from time to time, but was purchased by the city of St. Cloud in 2001. Through cooperative efforts by the city, the Woman's Club and other organizations and individuals, plans were developed for its use as a museum to house historic records and artifacts of the Woman's Club, veterans organizations and other civic organizations and individuals who have contributed to the development of St. Cloud.

The grand opening of the St. Cloud Heritage Museum was on Feb. 19, 2005, in a ceremony that mirrored the dedication of the building 82 years earlier on Feb. 17, 1923.

It currently features photographs, historic records and a variety of artifacts from veterans and other residents of the St. Cloud area, the Woman's Club, the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) and many other groups and individuals involved in St. Cloud and its history.

A growing collection of documents and artifacts on the early history of St. Cloud includes copies of the Robert A. Fisk collection of postcards and photographs and the Pat McMullen collection of postcards of early St. Cloud.

Issues of early St. Cloud newspapers are available on microfilm for viewing at the museum. These include microfilm of the St. Cloud Tribune from March 1911 through February 1943 and most issues of the St. Cloud News from January 1936 to March 1983.

The club also runs the museum, which is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

St. Cloud Mayor Donna Hart presented a proclamation March 11 at a City Council meeting to members of the club to commend the group and in honor of the organization’s 100th anniversary.

“The Woman’s Club, in cooperation with the city of St. Cloud, operates the St. Cloud Heritage Museum in one of the most-recognized historic buildings in the city and oversees the numerous treasures donated by local citizens,” Hart said. “The Woman’s Club of St. Cloud hosts events to entertain, educate, and give back to the community. Its fund-raising efforts provide monetary donations and supplies to nonprofit organizations to assist those in need. We recognize the good work of this club that provides scholarships, donations, education, and enrichment to numerous local groups and to the citizens of St. Cloud.”

The club is always looking for new members, Baust said, and is open to women of all ages, especially younger ladies.

“You need the young ones coming because that is how this (club) survived,” Baust said.

Just attend a couple of meetings to find out what the group is all about. Members don't have to be from St. Cloud, she said.

Does Hudelson think the club is going to be around another hundred years?

“I hope so,” she said.