The Women’s Service Club began as one of Mrs. Wilson’s knitting clubs, organized by Mary Evans Wilson (1866–1928), when, during World War 1, members met to knit scarves and gloves for soldiers. Wilson and her husband, Attorney Butler Wilson, were organizers of the Boston branch of the NAACP, which had the largest membership in the national organization during its first decade, 1909–20. Mary Evans Wilson traveled throughout the northeast recruiting members for the NAACP. In Boston her knitting clubs produced 300 new women members. In 1919, the club, by then called the Women’s Service Club, purchased this building and incorporated with a goal of providing service programs for the African American community. Among the club’s former presidents was Harriet Hall (1882–1958), who co-founded the interracial Women’s Republican Club on Beacon Hill in 1920. As president of WSC, she spearheaded the WSC’s drive to allow African Americans to live in dormitories of local educational institutions. Melnea Cass (1896–1978) served as president for more than fifteen years. Cass initiated the Homemakers Training Program which certified domestic workers so they would be assured social security and other benefits. She worked to open employment for African Americans in stores and hospitals, helped found Freedom House, was president of the Boston NAACP, and a charter member of the anti-poverty agency ABCD. Known as the “First Lady of Roxbury,” Melnea Cass is honored by having a major boulevard in Boston named after her.
