MacDowell Club

The MacDowell Clubs in the United States were established at the turn of the twentieth century to honor internationally recognized American composer Edward MacDowell. They became part of a broader social movement to promote music and other art forms in America.

The first MacDowell music club was established in 1896 in Boston by Edward MacDowell's students — The MacDowell Club of Boston (Edith Noyes Greene was one of the founders). Club in Providence, Rhode Island was founded in 1901, and another one, in Baker City, Oregon, in 1903, another club formed in Conneaut, Ohio in 1903. The MacDowell Club of Canton was founded in 1908; its members donated funds for construction of the Gail Watson Cable Recital Hall. The MacDowell Club of Allied Arts of Los Angeles was established in 1918. In Cincinnati, not a club, but the Cincinnati MacDowell Society was founded in 1913, which formed significant ties with the MacDowell Colony.

At the peak of their popularity before and during the World War II, about 400 independent clubs functioned in the nation. In 1955, Marian MacDowell wrote in a letter, "I suppose in the last forty years there must have been nearly 400; probably there are 300 now." War-time entry of women into the workforce and later social developments decreased the membership, and combined with advances in transportation and communication diminished the role of MacDowell Clubs both as social hubs and entertainment venues. In 2008, fifteen MacDowell Clubs continued to operate, including, in Altus, Oklahoma; Dyersburg, Tennessee; Jackson, Mississippi; Louisville, Kentucky; Canton, Ohio; Chickasha, Oklahoma; Janesville, Wisconsin; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As of 2015, such clubs, as the MacDowell Club of Mountain Lakes in New Jersey (established in 1916 by Lazelle Crooks Whitmore), the MacDowell Club of Allied Arts in Oklahoma City (established in 1920 by Hyla Florence Long), the MacDowell Music Club in Janesville, Wisconsin, the MacDowell Music Club of Chattanooga (founded in 1916), and the MacDowell Club of Milwaukee (established in 2008) were functioning.

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