The Working Girls Club Clubhouse

19 Park Place

Organized in 1896, The Working Girls Club of Naugatuck was an organization that was interested in the well-being of the (mostly single) women that worked mainly in the factories of Naugatuck (although teachers and clerical workers were part of the club as well). The Club was also part of a larger organization within the state called the Connecticut Association of Women Workers.  The state association had a yearly “reunion” that was well attended.  Delegates from Naugatuck, Derby, New Britain and New Haven (all industrial hubs at the time) outnumbered delegates from the rest of the state.

Gertrude Whittemore was heavily involved in both the Naugatuck club and the State Association along with her mother Julia Whittemore (Mrs. JH!) and her longtime friend and fellow Naugatuckian K. Maud Smith.  In 1908, Gertrude, using her own money, had the house at 19 Park Place constructed as a clubhouse for the Working Girls Club.

A newspaper article from 1910 describes the house: “a modernly equipped building of three stories is maintained as a clubhouse where the girls gather to enjoy social intercourse, to receive instruction in the several classes conducted on almost every evening of the week, and to enjoy the many facilities provided for recreation.” The first-floor housed a library and reading room, a large living room with a piano, a cooking room (where the girls learned to cook), and the kitchen.  The second-floor housed sewing and hat-making rooms, as well as, an apartment for Maud Smith (who functioned as the House Mother). The third floor contained classrooms.

Gertrude Whittemore followed in her parents’ footsteps and devoted her life to the betterment of others.