Woman's Club of Coconut Grove
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Woman's Club of Coconut Grove
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| Location | Miami, Florida |
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| Coordinates | 25°43′37″N 80°14′24″W / 25.72694°N 80.24000°WCoordinates: 25°43′37″N 80°14′24″W / 25.72694°N 80.24000°W |
| NRHP Reference # | 75000549 |
| Added to NRHP | March 26, 1975 |
The Woman's Club of Coconut Grove (originally known as the Housekeepers Club) is a historic woman's club in Miami, Florida.
The organization was founded in 1891 by Flora McFarlane. Charter members included women from the pioneering families of Coconut Grove, and included Mrs. Kirk Munroe, Mrs. Joseph Frow, Mrs. Charles Peacock, Mrs. Charles John Peacock and Mrs. Benjamin Newbold. The first meeting of the Woman's Club of Coconut Grove was called to order on February 19, 1891, with the primary purpose of improving life for members of the community. An integral part of the group's mission was to expand education though an emphasis on literacy. The Woman's Club of Coconut Grove was the first federated woman's club established in the State of Florida. In 1957, Housekeeper's Club of Coconut Grove members officially changed the name of the organization to the Woman's Club of Coconut Grove.
The first public school building in Miami-Dade county, built in 1889, was the site of the group's first meeting. Members of the Housekeepers Club of Coconut Grove raised the funds necessary to build the schoolhouse, which also served as the community's Sunday School site. The building was the area's only public school until 1894, until a larger school was constructed, and the one-room building was abandoned.
An offshoot of the original Housekeepers Club of Coconut Grove, the Pine Needles Club offered young girls an opportunity to congregate, and discuss literature of present and past. The club was founded in 1895, in an effort to foster a spirit of community in the South Florida area. Mary Barr Munroe, wife of pioneer and author Kirk Munroe, gathered area girls for weekly outdoors readings of adventure novels, often those on the subjects of Seminole Indians and the Florida Everglades.
Founder Mary Barr Munroe, alongside Pine Needles Club members, worked to establish the first lending library in the City of Miami, operating out of donated space above an area general store. A 1895 donation of reading materials by frequent South Florida visitor, Louise Carnegie, and wife of Steel tycoon, Andrew Carnegie, enabled the Club to establish what became known as the Coconut Grove Reading Room. The Coconut Grove Reading Room collection grew exponentially. Housekeepers Club and Pine Needles Club members were eventually able to raise the funds required to erect the very first branch of the Miami-Dade Public Library System, known as the Coconut Grove Library. The branch, completed and open for business in 1901, was built upon land donated by fellow Coconut Grove pioneer, Ralph Munroe.
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