Polly Wayne Garden Club
“If every member of this club were just like me, what kind of club would this club be?”
(From a pamphlet dated 1983 donated to the Greene County Historical Society by Cornerstone Genealogical Society in Waynesburg, PA in the summer of 2011)
On a warm June 5 afternoon in 1939, a week before the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was officially dedicated in Cooperstown, New York, the first meeting of what was later named the Polly Wayne Garden Club was formed by 15 women in the Waynesburg community in the Assembly Room of the First National Bank Building, in Waynesburg.
The group of women were formed because “The Lady of Greene Garden Club” had too many requests for their limited membership and felt another club would benefit from the popularity of the group. The Lady of Greene Garden Club representatives who helped start the Polly Wayne Garden Club were President Mrs. Ross P. Cosgray and Program Chairperson, Flora Haught Burge.
The original group consisted of Mrs. Inghram Hook, Mrs. L.W.Sayers, Mrs. A.H. Skinner, Mrs. H.E. Skinner, Mrs. Emma Yoders, Mrs. Dennis Fuller, Mrs. A.G. Scott, Mrs. Emma Wood, Mrs. Harry Penn, Mrs. Theresa Hunnell, Mrs. J. Ross Garrison, Mrs. C.E. Bane, Mrs. John Lucas, Mrs. C.A. Bower, Mrs. Charles Filer, and the Lady Greene Garden Club representatives.
By the end of the initial meeting, Mrs. Dennis Fuller was elected Chairman and Mrs. Ross Garrison as secretary. A committee on Constitution and By-Laws was composed of Mrs. L.W. Sayers, Mrs. Inghram Hook and Mrs. Harry Penn.
The next meeting was scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 10 at 2 p.m. in the Assembly Room of the First National Bank Building to form a permanent organization and the club was off and running.
In the following meetings, the club voted to conduct business on the second Thursday in each month. They also agreed to contact local flower growers and invite them to subsequent meetings. The third meetings subject were “Injurious Insects” conducted as a roundtable discussion. The group also elected the first official officers and the results are as followed:
President: L.W. Sayers
Vice-President: Mrs. H.E. Skinner
Secretary: Mrs. C.A. Bower
Treasurer: Mrs. C.E. Bane
Purchasing Agent: Mary B. Ferguson
The first quarter of the garden club concluded on Thursday, August 10, 1939. The group’s Ppesident, Mrs. Sayers, suggested the name The Polly – Wayne, which was accepted and a motion was made by Mrs. Leota Skinner and seconded by Mrs. A.G. Scott. The President then introduced the purchasing agent, Miss Mary Ferguson, and she gave a talk on transplanting. She also suggested paying two cents for each plant they receive from members. The amount received would be added to the treasurer’s fund. The membership committee leader Mrs. Hunnell received eight new members into the group.
As I scan the internet to see where the name Polly Wayne Garden Club originated, I see that General “Mad Anthony” Wayne’s wife was Polly. None of the meeting minutes verify this as the reason for the name of the club.
The Polly Wayne Garden Club’s object, or mission statement was “To cultivate the spirit of Gardening in its broadest sense. They had a recurring theme of “Togetherness — God, Man and Nature” and the club flower was the Pink Dogwood.
As I read through the meeting minutes and notes for the Polly Wayne Garden Club, I see a group of women who were innovative, creative, and truly successful. In a time when women were just starting to make their mark in history, the Polly Wayne Garden Club became a strong and long lasting group of women that ran the club like a business. Each meeting was conducted under the rules set forth by the members and each dollar and membership was accounted for through the years.
The Polly Wayne Garden Club ran from June 1939 until the last meeting minutes recorded, which were from March 9, 2006. The meeting minutes scheduled the next meeting for April 13, 2006, but no record of the meeting exists in the files. Whether the club continued after March is not known.
I enjoyed the inside look into the minds of the women of the Polly Wayne Garden Club. I hope you all had a fun ride!