The Woodmen of the World is a civic organization for people
involved with insurance and is modeled on the Masonic tradition.
This photograph was made at the dedicaton of Sherman's Woodmen Circle
Home.
The Home opened June 25, 1930, and was the largest public event ever
planned at that time, drawing more than 6,000 visitors from 41 states.
Guests were served 3,000 pounds of barbequed beef and volunteers used
82 bushels of potatoes to make the potato salad.
Even before it opened, the Woodmen Circle Home had a positive influence
on Sherman and north Texas. The groundbreaking in 1928 led to the
creation of more that 100 jobs for men in the area, at a time when the
ecomonics of the Great Depression left few options in many other cities.
More than 100 chldren would call the location "home" in its 40 years of
operation.
The scrapbook of the Woodmen Circle Home, below, is kept in
the
rare books room
of the Sherman Public Library
