The Woman's Century Club

WCC of Seattle, Washington   |  807  E. Roy St., Seattle, WA 98102

History of the Club

The Woman's Century Club was organized on July 31, 1891 and incorporated on September 10, 1915. It has been a member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs since 1892 and the Washington State Federation of Women's Clubs since September 1896.

The Woman's Century Club was organized in 1891 by Carrie Chapman Catt (born in Ripon, WI in 1859.  Mrs. Catt attended the University of Iowa - studied law and became principal of the high school, and later Superintendant of Schools, in Mason, Iowa.
 
Mrs. Catt became interested in the Woman Suffrage Movement. When Susan B. Anthony retired, Mrs. Catt took her place as president of the Suffrage Movement. She traveled extensively, came West, and organized The Woman's Century Club believing that the next century was to be "a Woman's Century," and women would take their place in the world. Hence the name - Woman's Century Club.

The Club had its inception in the minds of half a dozen women who felt its need in the sordid atmosphere of a rapidly developing western city, intellectual culture, and solutions of altruistic problems of the day. Mrs. Catt was named first president of the Club.

The Woman's Century Club helped start the Martha Washington School for Girls; paid the salary of the first librarian for a year; started Traveler's Aid and paid half the salaries for its workers for two years.

 Mrs. Bertha K. Landes, President of the club from 1918-1920, was the first woman Mayor of a city in the United States (Mayor from 1926-1928). While Mayor, she hosted Queen Marie of Romania on her visit to Seattle, September 23, 1927 as well as presenting Will Rodgers with an anchor as a memento of his Seattle visit. Mrs. Landes was also on hand to greet Charles Lindbergh after his historic flight across the Atlantic. The Woman's Century Club also sponsored a visit by Amelia Earhart.

The Woman's Century Club has continued to carry on the goals set by its founders to this day.