In 1903 a group of prominent Oakland women under the leadership of Mary R. Smith organized the Home Club to serve as a social center for Smith’s orphanage for girls, and as a general venue for notable speakers and artists. The Home Club building, completed in 1904, was located on land shared with the residential cottages of the orphanage. The Home Club/orphanage complex adjoined the grand estate, Arbor Villa, where Mary R. Smith and her husband Francis Marion “Borax” Smith resided. In the early 1920s the orphanage closed, and in 1926 financial difficulties led the Home Club to vacate the Home Club building and move to other venues. The Home Club continued on until 2015, mainly as a members-only social club for dances and parties. Its final venue was the Piedmont Veterans’ Memorial Building.
(OHC COLL 2019-4)
11 boxes (5 linear feet)
Go here for a more detailed list of this collection's contents.
Available at Oakland History Center, Main Library.
