The Woman's Club of El Paso

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Way out in El Paso, something was stirring in 1895. A group of women got together and organized what they called the Child Culture Study Circle, which was shortly after officially reorganized as the Current Topics Club.

Now that name tells you something about who these women were. They weren't content to sit still. Their purpose, spelled out plain, was improving the physical, intellectual, and moral conditions of the community.

That's a tall order by any measure, and they meant every word of it. Three years later, they changed the name again, to the Woman's Club of El Paso, and that name stuck. By 1916, this organization had grown into something that needed a proper home.

So they built one. The structure that stands today was designed by O. H.

Thorman and constructed by H. T. Ponsford and Sons.

When you look at it, you can see the care in every line. It carries the influences of Georgian and beaux arts styling, two traditions that together say: we are here, we are serious, and we intend to last. And last it did.

What began as a study circle in 1895 became a cornerstone of El Paso, housed in a building that still carries the weight of all that purpose. Some things, when they're built right, just endure.

What the marker says

In 1895 the Child Culture Study Circle was officially organized as the current Topics Club for the purpose of improving the physical, intellectual, and moral conditions of the community. The name was changed three years later to the Woman's Club of El Paso. This structure, built for the members in 1916, was designed by O. H. Thorman and constructed by H. T. Ponsford and Sons. It reflects influences of Georgian and beaux arts styling. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980