The Estes Park Woman’s Club was organized in 1912. The women spent their first year building mountain trails and making scenic areas accessible to hikers and horseback riders. The following year, they decided to build a clubhouse, that would dually serve as the library. In 1914, the Woman’s Club was accepted into the Colorado Federation and General Federation of Women’s Clubs.
In 1916, the women established their library at the local school. By 1920, the school needed to expand so the library was moved to a rented room in a downtown hotel. Then, in 1922, the town donated a lot in Bond Park for the library site, but the Woman’s Club was responsible for the building of the Estes Park Public Library.
The Woman’s Club and volunteers donated labor and materials and raised money needed to build the library. In addition, the women established a fund to support the maintenance of the library in 1925. Today, the Estes Valley Library continues to receive the support of the Estes Park Woman’s Club.
Nancy P. Thomas, recording secretary for the Estes Park Woman’s Club, will speak at the Rotary Club of Estes Park on Thursday, March 15, at their regular noon meeting. Thomas will be speaking about the history and the work of the Estes Park Woman’s Club.
Nancy Thomas
After receiving a Ph.D. in Communication, Information & Library Studies in 1969 from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Thomas became a professor in the School of Library & Information Management, Emporia State University, until her retirement in 2009.
In Estes Park, she served as President of the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation from 2015-2017 and chaired the Coolest Car Show in Colorado. She continues as the Editor-in-Chief of the Friends Press. She joined the Woman’s Club in 2010, and currently serves as its recording secretary.
Thomas is the author of a number of professional textbooks and journal articles. Since her retirement, she has written “A Slice of History & A Piece of Pie,” a social history of Estes Park’s first families. Furthermore, she helped edit and publish “Then the Women Took Over: A Hundred Years of the Estes Park Woman’s Club,” written by Harriet Burgess, and “The Memoirs of the Eleanor Hondius of Elkhorn Lodge,” and co-authored with her brother J. H. Pickering, “If I Ever Grew Up and Became a Man: William Allen White’s Moraine Park Years.”
Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders who provide humanitarian service and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. There are 1.2 million Rotary members in 34,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Rotary clubs have been serving communities worldwide for more than a century. Rotary clubs around the world initiate projects that address critical issues such as conflict resolution, hunger, poverty, disease and illiteracy.
The Rotary Club of Estes Park meets Thursdays at the Rodeway Inn in Estes Park, located at 1701 North Lake Avenue on Highway 34 just west of Dry Gulch Road. Visitors interested in learning more about Rotary and its programs are welcome to attend. Buffet is served at 11:30 a.m., the Rotary business meeting opens at noon, and the program begins at 12:30 p.m.
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