Expansion of the Club

Within 5 years of founding, the WCC was able to give back to the community. Once they gained enough members and funds, they began fundraising for local causes. Their biggest fundraising event was the annual play they put on. They would use the money to donate to churches and create scholarships. During the first World War, the club would hold an annual Red Cross drive in Willimantic every year near Christmas. They also would do clothing drives a few times a year to send to soldiers. They also protested the garbage collection in Willimantic in the early 1900s, insisting on a cleaner city for all. Allen Lincoln states in his book A Modern History of Windham County Connecticut: A Windham County Treasure Book, “ garbage collection was deemed an unnecessary fad by the fathers of the city and it required several visits to the council chamber by members of the Women’s Club before a plan was safely established.”

The club was very dedicated to bettering the city they lived in. They wanted everyone to know how proud they were of their city. The women of the WWC took their talents to the World’s Fair in 1893. The board of the club joined other Connecticut organizations in composing an exhibit for the state. The women of Willimantic put together an exhibit that showed off the spools and threads of the American Thread Company. The mills of Willimantic were some of the largest of their time and they deserved recognition in the spectacle that was the World’s Fair.

The impact of the WWC lasted through the 20th century. Willimantic Women’s Club continued to contribute to their community until 1995. Membership had gone down in the last year and the women decided to retire from the club. The women who spent their time building this club helped shape the Willimantic community into what it is today.