New Century Club (Philadelphia)

In 1876 the Centennial Exposition was held in Philadelphia and had a Women's Pavilion, which was the springboard for the creation of the New Century Club in January 1877.

[2] One of the first women's clubs in the United States,[3] its purpose was to provide a meeting place for its members and to promote "science, literature and art.

[4] Although the club avoided public controversy by downplaying involvement in "radical" causes such as the suffrage movement, its members were active in a wide range of reforms.

Other founding members were Elizabeth Croasdale and Emily Sartain, who were pass and contemporary school principals at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women; writer Eliza Sproat Turner;[2] veteran campaigner Mary Grew[6] and physician and later dean of Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, Clara Marshall.

Architect Minerva Parker Nichols designed a club house of Italian Renaissance architecture, of Indiana limestone and Pompeiian brick at and estimated cost of $80,000.