The Clubhouse, The Woman's Club of Beaumont

Duane's take

Now, I'm going to tell you this one the way the official marker tells it, so you know exactly where the story comes from. Pull up a chair, because Beaumont has got a clubhouse with more history packed inside its walls than most buildings twice its size. We're talkin' about The Clubhouse of the Woman's Club of Beaumont, Jefferson County, and the story starts long before there was even a building to tell about.

The Woman's Reading Club, which would eventually become the Woman's Club of Beaumont, spent its early years movin' from home to home, church to church, public building to public building. Meetings wherever they could find a room, which tells you something right there about the kind of determined women we're dealing with. Then came 1909.

The club was being led by two presidents, Mrs. John B. Goodhue and Mrs.

J. L. Cunningham, and under their watch, a decision got made.

They were going to build something. A designer named C. C.

McDonald drew up the plans for a two-story frame clubhouse, and a contractor by the name of T. W. Thomas got to work.

When it was finished, Beaumont had itself one of the earliest meeting halls in the area. Now here's a detail that says everything about who these women were. They cared deeply about libraries, about cultural collections, about knowledge havin' a home.

So right there inside the building, they set aside interior space for exactly that. They also put in an auditorium and a stage, because culture doesn't just sit on a shelf, it performs. And they weren't keepin' the place to themselves, either.

All kinds of community groups came through those doors. The very first civic function held there was a banquet in 1909, hosted by the Oil Producers Association, which, in Beaumont, was about as big a gathering as you could have. Step inside today and you'll find four grand pianos, all for the use of the club's piano ensemble, which was organized in 1932.

Four grand pianos. In one clubhouse. That's not a boast, that's just the count.

Then the wars came. World War One, World War Two. The clubhouse didn't flinch.

It became a hub for Red Cross activities. Members made bandages. They ran collection drives for supplies.

When the country needed somethin', this building answered. And it didn't stop there. Civil Defense classes were held inside these walls.

When disasters hit the area, the clubhouse opened up as a relief shelter for the people who had nowhere else to go. Started out as a place for a reading club to hold its meetings. Ended up as something the whole community leaned on when things got hard.

That's the kind of building that earns its place on the map.

What the marker says

Early meetings of the Woman's Reading Club, now the Woman's Club of Beaumont, were conducted in area homes, churches, and public buildings until 1909, when this two-story frame clubhouse was built. Constructed during the presidencies of Mrs. John B. Goodhue and Mrs. J. L. Cunningham, it was designed by C. C. McDonald. T. W. Thomas served as the contractor. Because of the club's interest in promoting the development of area libraries, interior space was provided for cultural collections. An auditorium and stage were also included. One of the earliest meetings halls in the area, it was shared with a variety of community groups. The first civic function here was the 1909 banquet of the Oil Producers Association. Interior furnishings include four grand pianos for use by the club's piano ensemble, organized in 1932. During World Wars I and II, the clubhouse was used for Red Cross activities. Members contributed to the war effort by making bandages and by conducting collection drives for supplies. The building has also been used for Civil Defense classes and as a relief shelter for victims of area disasters.