By Elizabeth Wulfhorst
RED BANK – You could be forgiven for missing the 19th-century home set back from the street under a canopy of trees, sandwiched between two modern buildings, both housing banks. But the Anthony Reckless Estate, located at 164 Broad St., shouldn’t be overlooked. Since 1921 the former family home of the state senator who brought the railroad to town has been the headquarters of the Woman’s Club of Red Bank, an organization founded to promote literacy for woman.
“In the beginning the Woman’s Club was a social club, but it was also an opportunity to teach women and girls how to read, really. It was a literary society,” explained Christina Hardman O’Neal, the club’s current president.
The organization, incorporated in 1917, bought the estate for $15,000 in 1921 and provided rooms for single women on the upper floors with community rooms on the first floor. Now the entire house is used by the organization for its mission to support literacy through community service engagement, preserve the historic clubhouse and to provide a strong network for personal and professional development.
Prior to the pandemic, the organization was holding seminars and events for women entrepreneurs and professionals and hosting a Mindfulness for Moms series with workshops and panel discussions, what Hardman O’Neal called a “take on modern literacy.” Community groups were also using the house for meetings and events, like a tango club and a seniors art group.
Members have spent the time during the shutdown to make some needed repairs and upgrades to the house. Using grant money, they had the floors refinished and spent many socially distant hours taking inventory and cleaning out spaces that had accumulated years of event detritus. “This was a good opportunity, with masks, to go through closets and drawers,” said membership chair Jill Merriman. “So we really did a cleaning up in that way.”
And the club also pivoted to online events, like most organizations. Getting back to its literary roots, the group started a book club. Three or four meetings in there is now a virtual meet-the-author Q&A event for the latest selection, “Oona Out of Order” by Margarita Montimore. Merriman reached out to Montimore, a Ukranian-born former Brooklynite who now lives in New Jersey. “I just did a little googling and then reached out to her on, you know, social media,” said Merriman. “And she responded to me. And I told her that we were a women’s club and we would love for her to be part of our book review and do a Q&A. So she sent me questions to discuss” and now Montimore will be part of an open-to-the-public book group event Nov. 16 via Zoom. Usually only members can take part, but Merriman sees this as a perfect opportunity to expand membership and show the community what the Woman’s Club is all about.
Dorothea Zando, a board member, moderates the book club meetings and envisions having the space open to all kinds of book groups once the pandemic ends. “We just thought, as we were doing this membership drive and this whole refurbishing, you know, let’s get back to our roots,” she said. Members can sign up to host their own events at the house and one of the goals is to encourage book clubs to hold monthly meetings there, she said. Zando sees this as a way to increase membership while embracing literacy. The club is run with membership dues and grants which have already helped shore up the house’s foundation and install a new roof and new boiler system. Most proceeds from events held at the house go to local charities.
And as restrictions on gatherings have lifted, small events are being held and planned at the house. A virtual art auction where all the art would be hung in the house but bidding would be done online is in the works.
One of the organization’s partners is the Youth Jazz Project, part of the Jersey Shore Jazz and Blues Foundation. A high school student will be using the house to record a performance for college applications.
On Nov. 24 from 6 to 7 p.m. the club is hosting a Porch Party, weather permitting. Guests are asked to meet on the porch to socialize safely, “hopefully with some cider,” said Hardman O’Neal, and bring food donations which will go to local food pantries in desperate need of restocking for the upcoming holidays.
Zando sees the house becoming a “really cool work share space” once indoor restrictions are eased. “Because of the pandemic, and people are not traveling into the city, they’re working from home. We’d like to see the club become a little bit more of like a work share space.”
“Eventually, after we get money to refurbish the kitchen on the main floor, we’d love to just finish up those two other levels one by one, and we can actually have people rent office space,” she said.
She thinks it will be an “important place for people in the community to gather to network, to socialize and to get involved with helping people.”
More information about the Woman’s Club of Red Bank and upcoming events can be found at womansclubredbank.org.
The article originally appeared in the November 5 – 11, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
