DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. On May 13, 1907, in the storied Menger Hotel in San Antonio, fifteen women gathered and did something quietly extraordinary. They organized the San Antonio Section of the National Council of Jewish Women — and before the meeting was over, they'd elected Anna Hertzberg as their first president.
Fifteen charter members. One vote. And then they got to work.
Now, that's where the real story begins. The council didn't ease into things. They immediately — and I mean immediately — established a night school to provide English instruction to adult immigrants.
Think about what that meant in 1907: people arriving in a new country, a new city, a new language, and here were fifteen women saying, come on in, we'll help you find your footing. Literacy, public health — these were the concerns they organized around, and they didn't stop there. Not by a long shot.
The 1930s rolled in with all their hardship, and the council responded by establishing a neonatal and well baby clinic. Then came the 1940s, and with the war effort pressing down on families across the city, the council set up a day care center for working mothers. And during that same stretch of time, they developed the Lighthouse for the Blind.
One organization, decade after decade, reading the room — reading the whole city, really — and building something to meet whatever need had gone unmet. What strikes you, when you hear all of it laid out, is the pattern. The council didn't just run programs.
It created or assisted agencies specifically so those efforts could grow into self-sustaining interests — standing on their own two feet, long after the council had moved on to the next thing. Fifteen women in a hotel in 1907. The ripples are still moving.
What the marker says
On May 13, 1907, the San Antonio Section of the National Council of Jewish Women was organized in the Menger Hotel. Anna Hertzberg was elected president by the 15 charter members. The council immediately became active in the development of social services in the city, establishing a night school to provide English instruction to adult immigrants and organizing projects to address such concerns as literacy and public health. In the 1930s, members established a neonatal and well baby clinic. They set up a day care center for working mothers in support of the 1940s war effort and developed the Lighthouse for the Blind during that time, as well. The council continues its work, assessing the needs of the community and creating or assisting agencies to assume council-initiated projects as self-sustaining interests. (2000)