The Lend-A-Hand Club was located in downtown

Davenport, Iowa Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...

, United States, along the riverfront. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1983.

History

The Lend-A-Hand Club was established in Davenport in 1886 as a chapter of the

International Order of the King's Daughters and Sons Headquartered in Chautauqua, New York, the International Order of the King's Daughters and Sons is an interdenominational Christian philanthropic organization. Also known as "The King's Daughters and Sons" or "IOKDS," the organization's mission st ...

. It became an affiliate of the national network of Lend-A-Hand Clubs launched during the 1870s by

Edward Everett Hale Edward Everett Hale (April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909) was an American author, historian, and Unitarian minister, best known for his writings such as " The Man Without a Country", published in ''Atlantic Monthly'', in support of the Union ...

, a Unitarian minister who had risen to nationwide prominence as an abolitionist and writer for the ''

Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 ...

'' prior to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The club was a place for young women who lived and worked away from home to associate in a safe environment. Initially, it occupied various downtown locations that it rented. When it was housed in a department store it offered rest and reading rooms. When it moved to larger facilities it expanded to a cafeteria, reading rooms, parlor, shower and bath, laundry, arts and crafts, and a gymnasium. It also provided a lecture series on various women's topics. The Lend-A-Hand Club was the city's main woman's service facility and usurped any potential for the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swit ...

to establish itself in Davenport. Money was raised and in 1922 a permanent location was secured and a building was constructed along South Main Street opposite the

Dillon Memorial The Dillon Memorial is a historic structure located in LeClaire Park, near downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1983 and on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in ...

. The facility contained dormitory rooms, a lounge, cafeteria, and a swimming pool. Its construction was a part of major riverfront improvements there were completed in Davenport between 1912 and 1931. Programs offered by the club covered women's issues as bicycling for women, the pros and cons of women working outside the home, woman's suffrage, and other topics. The building closed as a woman's facility in the 1960s. It was rented to the city of Davenport who converted it to elderly housing in 1973. A new building was constructed for the elderly at Third and Ripley Streets in the late 1980s and the Lend-A-Hand Club building was torn down in 1990. It was removed from the National Register in 2014.

Architecture

The Lend-A-Hand Club was a three-story,

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

, U-shaped building that was built over a raised basement. It was designed by Davenport architect Frederick G. Clausen in the

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

style. It featured

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

pilasters In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

and

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

. Four decorative urns were located on the

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

. The shape of the building allowed the residential spaces to receive full natural light and air circulation. The main floor was a rectangular box that housed the social service elements of the facility.

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1923 Former buildings and structures in Davenport, Iowa Former National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Davenport, Iowa Demolished buildings and structures in Iowa Buildings and structures demolished in 1990 International Order of the King's Daughters and Sons

History

Architecture

See also

References