Clubwomen of Denver

Denver, Colorado, was established in 1860 as a mining town where men outnumbered women by 16 to 1. Businessmen and political bosses controlled Denver, a wide-open town flowing with vice and corruption. While the male business leaders of the city had little concern for charity or the plight of the poor that flooded Denver looking for a better or healthier life, some women—wives and daughters of these leaders—took steps to alleviate the distress in the city.

Denver's first women's philanthropic club, the Ladies Union Aid Society (later the Ladies Relief Society), was organized in 1860 to help the poor. The society raised funds to pursue a varied program of relief, including charity, a free clinic, a day nursery, and a home for the aged. As more ...