On Tuesday, November 01, 1927, the Portia Club clubhouse, located at 225 North 9th Street in Payette, Idaho
was first opened to the public. The building was the dream of a group of far-sighted women dedicated to the welfare and cultural
well being of their community. They may have started their club over a small tea party in 1895,
but during the next twenty years they started the Payette City Library, funded Children's Free Health
Clinics, organized the Payette Apple Blossom Festival, sponsored lectures on laws that affected women and children, held debates on women's issues and
spread the virtues of art and literature throughout the city of Payette, Idaho. Their dream to
build their own clubhouse started in 1919 with $60 in proceeds from a dance the ladies had sponsored.
Over the next eight years the women of the Portia Club slowly added to their clubhouse fund until they
had earned the $4,366 cost of the building. They chose a well known architect from Fruitland, I. C. Whitley
to design their new clubhouse and decided on a Spanish style that they hoped would add to the beauty of
their city. The women of the Portia Club slowly faded away and their accomplishments were nearly forgotten,
but seventy-seven years later we are trying to save this once active clubhouse. Over time the building has
been sorely neglected and without extensive restoration will be lost forever. It is our goal, with your help,
to restore this lovely building and turn it into a community center for non-profit clubs, performing arts, after school and other community based programs.
