Woman's Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, Tyler, Texas, 1928. A group of women decided that if you want something done right, you organize, you charter, and you build it yourself.

The Woman's Building Association, a branch of the Tyler Woman's Forum, got its charter that year with one clear mission: direct the construction of a proper facility for the women of Tyler. Not borrow a room, not rent a corner somewhere. Build it.

And they did. By 1932, the thing was standing. Meeting rooms, an auditorium, a library, all of it, ready for the Woman's Forum and civic organizations across Tyler to put to use.

Now here's where the story gets a little extra satisfying, because they didn't just put up four walls and call it done. They built something worth looking at. The Federal style of architecture, multilight windows, two-story Doric columns, and right over the main entry, an elliptical arch of cast stone.

That's not a building thrown together in haste. That's a statement. That's women in East Texas saying, we are here, we are organized, and we are not going anywhere.

And four columns and a cast-stone arch into the future, they were right.

What the marker says

The Woman's Building Association, a branch of the Tyler Woman's Forum, was chartered in 1928 to direct the construction of this facility. When completed in 1932, it provided meeting rooms, an auditorium, and a library for the Woman's Forum and other civic organizations in Tyler. Reflective of the Federal style of architecture, the building features multilight windows, two-story Doric columns, and an elliptical arch of cast stone over the main entry. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1990