After 88 years, Kirkland’s oldest service club — The Kirkland Woman’s Club — continues to be an active part of the community.

Located at 407 First Street (across from City Hall) the clubhouse is a regular meeting place for local families and a variety of organizations. The hall plays host to weddings, funerals, birthdays and piano recitals on an antique Steinway Grand Piano.

Preparing the club for a Weight Watchers meeting last Friday, club vice-president Joie Goodwin and members Julie Devine and Virginia Kaiser met with the Kirkland Reporter to discuss the club’s place in Kirkland life today. According to Kaiser, the Woman’s Club is the largest in the state, organized under the umbrella of the national General Federation of Women’s Clubs, headquartered in Washington D.C. There are presently about 35 local members in the women-only association.

“A lot of women here like to be with other women who are givers,” Goodwin said.

Founded in 1920, the early club played much the same role it does today. Started by a group of women concerned about the education needs of area children, the club hosted Kirkland’s first library, according to Bob Burke, president of the Kirkland Heritage Society.

“They provided a lot of services,” he said. “The club focused on a lot of programs for young women. Many of their early members were the who’s who of the movers and shakers in Kirkland, like the Shumway sisters.”

Burke said the local chapter of the American Legion was Kirkland’s oldest club until it merged with a club in Bellevue. The Woman’s Club was then founded, followed by other service clubs such as the Lions, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Rotary club.

The craftsman-style clubhouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1924. The land for the house was donated by the Burke & Farrar development company, which at the time owned most of the land in Kirkland, Burke said.

“There was a real development in the community that brought about the growth of service clubs in the area,” he said.

Corrine Heib, a former president and unofficial historian for the club, said the clubhouse served as the city library until 1952. Whenever a member passed away, the club would donate a book to the city library with their name inscribed, she said.

The club has also been instrumental in other charity efforts in Kirkland.

At one time the Woman’s Club maintained a baby welfare clinic at their clubhouse and aided the funding of pediatric care in the old downtown hospital. The club also founded the Eastside Music Festival Foundation for Youth, and today offers thousands of dollars in scholarships for young musicians to continue their studies.

“(Our members) are women of all ages and we always have been,” Heib said. “They are women who want to do something for their community.”

For more information, contact Kendall Watson at kwatson@reporternewspapers.com.