Founding of The Woman’s Club of DeLand

1906 On March 28, about 30 women from DeLand and surrounding communities met in ALMA R. (Mrs. Charles) FARRISS’ Domestic Sciences Room at Stetson University to discuss forming a Woman’s Club. The organization was chartered with 92 members May 15, 1906, as The Woman’s Club of DeLand. The Progressive Era fostered such groups as women began to speak out on local (education and health) and national (voting rights and working conditions) issues. Early leaders included Mrs. G.P. Carson, Mrs. George B. Woodward (temporary chair), Mrs. O.A. Morse, Mrs. S.P. Hayes, Mrs. W.H Stewart (first president), Mrs. W.W. Frost, Mrs. D.L. Gaulden, Mrs. V.H. Voorhis, Mrs. E.G. Baldwin, Mrs. G.A. Dreka, Mrs. C.D. Landis, Mrs. A.M. Heath, Mrs. A.G. Hamlin, Mrs. Farriss and Mrs. M.S. Hart. Mrs. Farriss (who with her husband, Stetson vice president Charles Farriss, remodeled and restyled what is now the DeLand House Museum) later was secretary of the State Federation. Early projects included funds to help the school board extend the school year to nine months and assistance in starting the first free kindergarten. WVHS gratefully recognizes these outstanding women and those who succeeded them during National Women’s History Month. 

—This photo, courtesy of Stetson University, shows the classroom where the organizational meeting was held in 1906.