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Back in 1892 when 45 daughters of the genteel middle class got
together and formed a "Reading Circle", the last thought
on their minds was the future. Their purposes were much more immediate.
The pragmatic ladies were seeking a break from their day-to-day
lives, a place to use their intellect, and most of all, an opportunity
to gather with other like-minded women.
A year after it was formed, the Reading Circle changed its name
to the Kalmia Club, after the botanical name for the mountain laurel,
kalmia latifolia. That year it also acquired its clubhouse at 39
York Street in Lambertville, New Jersey. The building, built in
the mid 1800’s as a private school, was a gift to the newly
formed club by the Quakers who had used it as a meetinghouse until
membership dwindled and they moved across the river, probably to
Solebury, Pennsylvania.
The Kalmia Club has met without interruption for over 100 years,
making it the oldest continuously running women’s club in the
state of New Jersey. So much has changed since the club was formed more than a century
ago. The afternoon teas have given way to evening meetings where
the women no longer dress up grandly in gloves and hats. Gone also
is the old-fashioned custom of restricting membership to a particular
social class. Today any woman is welcome to join Kalmia.
The club remains an active civic as well as literary organization.
Through its membership in the State Federation of Women’s Clubs,
it contributes to various statewide activities. And though the Kalmia
Club has kept up with the times, as members, we remain ever mindful
of our sisters in history and our place in the annals of the city
of Lambertville.
— Kate Breuning, April 1992
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