
The Second Longest Running Women’s Club Is In This Michigan City
The world has significantly changed as the years have gone on, especially here in America. The earliest parts of the country's existence were much different than what we see now as a majority of today's world wouldn't have all the rights and freedoms that they enjoy today. Women were one of the disadvantaged groups during this time as it was illegal for them to go to school and were restricted to cooking, cleaning, and managing the family.
Those restrictions began to be lifted in the late 1800s and early 1900s as women and other minority groups began to gain access to more of life's freedoms. Although things began to change, the women didn't wait until it was legal for them to progress their lives, they started by burning the midnight oil. Back in this day they would meet secretly under the guise of "normal womanly activities" to gain an education. This led to the creation of women's club all over the country, but the second oldest is here in Michigan.
Kalamazoo is a town with a unique history as we are known for beer and celery but also have quality namesake in the music, automotive, and medical fields. Surprisingly, Kalamazoo is known for more than its funny name and questionable existence, making it one of the major contributors to the history of Michigan. Once again, Kalamazoo is joining the historic ranks as they have one of the oldest women's clubs in the country.
The Kalamazoo Women's club started back in the mid 1800s as a way for women to garner an education without being at risk of being punished for trying to achieve this feat. Back then, they would meet under the guise of "a sewing club" but they were actually meeting as a book club. This would lead to invention of the Kalamazoo Ladies Library Assocation, which still exist to this day.
In 1852, that group of women publicly declared their book club and created Kalamazoo's first subscription-based library, coming before the Kalamazoo Public Library by 20 years. Over the next 26 years, the club and book collection kept growing, forcing them to need their own building which they broke ground on in 1878. That same building stands to this day in Downtown Kalamazoo.
The Kalamazoo Ladies Library Association built a Venetian-Gothic building to showcase their collection and it had an auditorium for meetings. The building of the library would be the first women-led construction project in the entire United States and over time became known as a "college for women".
The KLLA continues to enact these principles by running the library and providing resources to Kalamazoo and the surrounding areas. Alongside the library, the association continues to hold events in the auditorium, pictured below, all these years later. Today, the KLLA is the oldest continuously operating women’s club in Michigan and the second oldest in the United States.
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Gallery Credit: Kyle Matthews
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