July 2008Potrero Hill Women’s Club Celebrates its CentennialBy Anne LoskutoffOn February 10, 1908, a group of Potrero Hill women gathered to discuss ways to improve the community’s quality of life. They also wanted to provide a safe haven for the many San Franciscans who had been displaced by the 1906 earthquake. On April 10th the women held their first formal meeting at the nurse’s settlement – termed “Tent City” – on 19th and Iowa streets, and created the “Potrero Hill Women’s Club.” That same year Henry Ford introduced the Model T, which was mass-produced and sold for $850. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Oregon’s 10-hour workday for women, Theodore Roosevelt was President, San Francisco’s population stood at 88,710, and Singer had just completed the City’s first skyscraper, at 47-floors the tallest building on the peninsula. For entertainment club members played a card game called “whist.” The minutes of the Club’s earliest meetings indicate notable expenses: water use cost 7 cents, gas 75 cents, laundering and tablecloths 30 cents, entertainment and dessert (cake) 36 cents. The club corresponded with the Department of Public Works, Police Department, Municipal Car Line, and San Francisco Board of Supervisors, among others, requesting that various improvements be made to Potrero Hill. The Recreation Department was asked to build a youth center, now know as the Potrero Hill Playground and Recreation Center on Arkansas Street. The soil to create the playground and other public infrastructure was brought in by wheel barrow. Membership dues were one dollar a year. The club donated funds to Guide Dogs for the Blind, the Salvation Army and American Red Cross, the latter of which was requested to use the monies to purchase blankets for the war relief. In 1961 the San Francisco Examiner published a photograph in which many of the club members are carrying signs in front of City Hall protesting the building of Highway 101 through Potrero Hill. Today, a century later, the club continues to meet monthly, and remains active in helping to improve the Hill community. |
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