Dayton Historical Society

Women's Service & Social Group

The Dayton Priscilla Club has existed for 107 years having been organized on November 4, 1910 by five ladies - Mrs. Farmer, Mrs Babcock, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Sterling and Mrs. Matthews - in a meeting at Mrs. Farmer's home.  This group is the longest established Priscilla Club in the state of Texas. 

At their monthly meetings (September - May), the ladies begin with a business meeting followed by a guest speaker chosen and coordinated by the vice-president. Donations to worthy causes and performing service projects are definitely within their purview. A few examples are as follows:

- During World War I (1917), members organized a Red Cross Auxiliary and made comfort kits for each Dayton serviceman, folded bandages, made sweaters and socks, gathered magazines for camps and hospitals, and gathered clothes for foreign relief.

- During World War II (1942-45), members knitted for soldiers, supported the USO and assisted the Red Cross.

- When Liberty's Yettie Kersting Memorial Hospital opened in 1945, members provided sheets, pillow cases and tea towels to the new hospital.  

- In 1934, the Priscilla Club coordinated a partnership with the city of Dayton and President Roosevelt's New Deal Works Progress Administration to purchase land and build Dayton's first city park on North Winfree.  This activity was triggered when John William Parker died in 1932 and his will left $2000 to the Priscilla Club on the condition that it be used to build a park to honor his deceased wife, Emma Blake-Parker.  In 2001, the park was renamed from Dayton City Park to Parker Park.

In addition to activating a Red Cross Auxiliary, the Priscilla Club also organized the Dayton Garden Club at the home of Mrs. J.B. Sterling in March 1932.