1921 Project

Help us preserve our history – share your memories with us!

The Dallas Woman’s Club has been an integral part of the community for over a century. In an effort to preserve their historic building on Main Street and rebuild their membership, our club is excited to launch their latest project – the “1921 Project”. 

Help us preserve our clubhouse.

We are eager to partner with a anyone or any group of corporations that have an interest in architect, historical preservation, historical research and those interested in keeping our historical places secure. Your support can range from research, hands on activities, carpentry, in-kind gifts of the tools and supplies that help maintain and preserve our historical building and philanthropic commitments that support our community.

Clubhouse History

The Dallas Woman’s Club , organized and federated in 1920, became a member of Georgia Federation of Woman’s Clubs on July 12, 1920. The DWC was organized by May Belle McGarity (1891-1987). May Belle Hitchcock McGarity was the granddaughter of pioneer settlers in Paulding County. She was an educator, a librarian, she organized the first Dallas Garden Club, she was the first woman to register to vote in Paulding County and in 1924 she was the first woman Delegate to the Georgia Democratic Convention.

The very first project of the Dallas Woman’s Club was to secure a lot of land to build a community library and a “rest room”. In 1920, five members of the Dallas Woman’s Club were appointed to secure a lease on a land lot from the city of Dallas in which to construct a “ladies rest room”. In the early 1900’s, the US Department of Agriculture encouraged rural areas to have accommodations for women coming in to market towns. Since there was none in or around Dallas and only 3 in the entire 7th District of Georgia, a 25 year lease was granted by the City of Dallas and construction began.

The Dallas Woman’s Clubhouse was completed on July 4, 1921. There are two doors on the front of the house. One door was for the library entrance and one door was for the resting room.

The library started with a few dozen donated books and more books were obtained through donation, solicitation and from being purchased through fund raising events until 1936.In 1936, the DWC voted to organize a WPA library. 400 books were purchased through fund raising and the government funded 400 books through WPA grant. When the WPA was shut down, the Dallas Women’s Club continued to sponsor the library. It ecome a branch of the West Georgia Regional Library in 1958 and the Paulding County Library in 1959.

In addition to the library, the Dallas Woman’s Club served the community by sponsoring free clinics, provided diphtheria and polio vaccines to Paulding County children, raised money for scholarships, student aid and school fund raising events. The DWC was the organization that maintained the Dallas City cemetery starting in 1921 and in 1989 they supervised the establishment of a perpetual care Trust Fund for the Dallas City Cemetery. They are the co-founders and co-sponsors of the Paulding Meadows Arts and Crafts Festival. They were responsible for the establishment of the Paulding County Memorial Medical Center.

The Dallas Woman’s Clubhouse became the destination for school children and adults as the only library until 1979. The club was instrumental in an independent library being built and was successful in having a new independent 5,000 square foot library built in Paulding County.

The Dallas Woman’s Club is still an active part of the Dallas community and continues to embrace the vision of May Belle McGarity.