XXI Club
Denison, Texas

The fall of 1890 saw the founding of the XXI Club, a visionary ladies cultural club. By 1896, the group had the first
Women’s Club building in Texas.

Denison was without a library until 1890, when two culturally minded young women, Edith Menefee and Cora Lingo,
called a meeting of nine of their friends at the home of Mrs. Paul Waples. On October 14, 1890, they voted to organize
the XXI Club and Library (so named because the memberships would always be limited to twenty-one). Its purpose
was to sponsor the “pursuit of study as a means of intellectual culture and general improvement” among its members,
while also serving the community in myriad ways. It was the second woman’s club in Texas; the first, the Bronte Club,
was organized in Victoria in 1873. The XXI Club was a charter member of the Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs.
[Later Gainesville had a "XLI Club."]

Originally, membership in group was originally limited to twenty-one women. But the by-laws published in 1897-1898
don't mention a limit; at that time the membership list numbered fifty-five. Something obviously changed between 1890
and 1897.  Mr. A.P. Chamberlain, a stone mason, completed the stone work  for the new XXI building in August 1896. 
[Source: The Sunday Gazetteer, Sunday, August 9, 1896, pg. 3]

The organization struggled to survive until J. T. Munson took an interest. He assisted the ladies in incorporating in
1892, making the XXI the second oldest federated women’s club in the state. In 1896, he presented them with a deed
to two lots fronting on Gandy and extending sixty feet along Scullin Avenue. With the property deed went his check
for $4,000 to help establish the library. 

"Inside that envelope was a deed to two lots fronting on Gandy and the promise of a gift of $4,000 for a club building provided
the club raise $2,000 more."

1899 was the year Andrew Carnegie began to dole out money for libraries on a grand scale. He had been giving money to
them for more than 15 years at the time, but most, if not all, of it had gone to institutions in his native Scotland and in his
American hometown of Pittsburgh.  In 1899 he began to dispense grants to cities and towns across the country.

The XXI Club received its grant later in the year than many of the others.  

The two-story brick hall erected on the property made XXI the first women’s club in Texas to have its own building.
Music, drama, and art activities were housed here, in addition to the library. There was a large auditorium on the
first floor.

When other communities derisively pointed to Denison as being the largest town in Texas without a public library, the residents only smiled. The XXI Club collection included more than 3,000 reference books, thousands of other volumes
and many rare first editions. By any standards, it ranked in quality alongside most public libraries in cities of similar
size.

In 1925, subsoil conditions forced the XXI Club to abandon its two-story home that housed the library. With no
adequate place for the books, the members voted to divide them among libraries at the city’s two high schools and
Austin College.

For many years, the XXI Club was housed in a white frame building at 1101 West Morgan Street, across from Sam
Houston Elementary School. Eventually the club left this structure, but it continued to meet at the Denison Public
Library.

In the early 1940s, a residence constructed on the site at 901 West Gandy was the home of Denison city manager
Harold Schmitzer.

"The XXI Club and Library Building. Founded and Endowed by J. T. Munson. Erected 1896.
The Only Women's Club Building in Texas."
Source: Robinson, Frank M., comp. Industrial Denison. [N.p.]: Means-Moore Co., [ca. 1901]. Page 101.

One of the organizations in Denison that indicates both the culture and public spirit of its people is the XXI Club, an association of women. They own a very fine two-story brick building that is used for library and club purposes, having
a large auditorium on the first floor. This is one of the very few club buildings west of the Mississippi River controlled exclusively by women.
(Source : Frank M. Robinson, comp.  Industrial Denison. [N.p.]: Means-Moore Co., [ca.1909]).