Will Walla Walla's Women Save the Stubblefield Home?
While men offer only 'moral support,' the Woman's Reading Club and Ladies' Relief Society lead the charge to secure a new home for widows and orphans.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Walla Walla may yet have to call upon the public-spirited women of the town to raise the $10,000 necessary to secure the Stubblefield endowment for a widows' and orphans' home. It was the Woman's Reading Club that revived the public library and secured provision for its maintenance. The only substantial offer yet made toward the $10,000 requirement has been by the Ladies' Relief Society, which offered to donate their $4,000 home and grounds on South Second Street. There is little doubt these women could raise the sum and thus put to shame the wealthy citizens of the town who are willing to give the proposition all the moral support it needs, but are found lacking when it comes to putting up the one thing needful.
“There is little doubt that the Woman's Reading Club and the Ladies' Relief Society acting together could raise the sum required, and thus put to shame the wealthy citizens of the town.”
This piece highlights the historical reality that civic institutions and social safety nets in Walla Walla were frequently built on the uncompensated labor and social capital of women's organizations. The tension between wealthy private interests and community-led social welfare remains a resonant civic theme.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.