Florence Shuman Hall
Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Named for charter member of Fort Worth Woman's Club. Early cottage, built here, 1905, was rebuilt by pioneer civic leader, W.R. Edrington, in 1910. Woman's Club, formed in 1923, bought house year later as a center for its groups devoted to civic projects.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Named for a charter member of the Fort Worth Woman's Club, this building began as a 1905 cottage rebuilt in 1910 by civic leader W. R. Edrington. The Woman's Club, formed in 1923, purchased the house the next year as a home for its committees devoted to civic improvement.
Why it matters
The hall marks the Progressive-era women's club movement, through which women organized outside the home to shape schools, parks, and public life across American cities.
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Related people
- · Florence Shuman
- · W. R. Edrington
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Woman's Club of Fort Worth
Fort Worth, TX
In 1923, women from eleven social and study circles, some dating back before 1900, merged into the Woman's Club of Fort Worth under the leadership of Miss Anna Shelton, its first president. The charter members first gathered in a house donated by Etta O. Newby before the growing club acquired buildings of its own. Its members carried on civic, charitable, and educational work and built a Texana library, and by 1975 the club counted some 3,000 members.
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Ida Saunders Hall
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Built in 1903, this residence was the home of William Edrington Scott (1899–1961), the Fort Worth benefactor who later gave the city its Scott Theater for the performing arts. The Woman's Club of Fort Worth acquired the house in 1929 and named it for Ida Saunders, a leader within the club. The building thus links private philanthropy with the civic life of the city's organized women.
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