Clubhouse of the Federated Women's Clubs of Port Arthur

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the voice along for the ride. Now, twenty-five years is a long time to be meeting in other people's spaces, borrowing rooms, making do. The Port Arthur Federated Women's Clubs knew that as well as anybody.

So in 1923, a full quarter-century after their founding, they decided it was finally time. Time to build something of their own. The planning committee got to work, and the woman chairing it was Mrs.

C. L. Wignall.

Here's where the story gets a little interesting, because the architect her committee hired to design the whole thing, well, that was C. L. Wignall.

Her husband. Now, you can read that a couple of ways, but what you cannot argue with is the result. Wignall drew up plans for a proper clubhouse, and he didn't just draft four walls and a roof.

He worked in a decorative window motif, and then, because a good design deserves a little conversation with itself, he repeated that same motif in the porch balustrade. Details talking to each other across the face of a building. That's craft.

Construction wrapped up, and on February 8, 1924, the Port Arthur Federated Women's Clubs threw open the doors for an open house. Twenty-five years of planning meetings and borrowed rooms, and now they had a place to call their own. Some things are worth the wait.

What the marker says

In 1923, twenty-five years after their founding, the Port Arthur Federated Women's Clubs began planning for construction of their own clubhouse. Mrs. C. L. Wignall chaired the planning committee, and her husband, local architect C. L. Wignall, designed the structure. His plans included a decorative window motif repeated in the porch balustrade. An open house on Feb. 8, 1924 celebrated the completion of the clubhouse. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1982