90 Years and Counting at the Town & County Club

A fixture on Woodland Street in Hartford, the Town & County Club has been welcoming its women members and their guests for decades, celebrating 90 years in 2015. With a striking exterior of buff color brick and limestone, the huge Colonial Revival house that the Club calls home was once the residence of Theodore and Laura Lyman and their four children.

Built in 1895, the home was constructed by noted local architects Melvin & Edward Hapgood. With three floors of approximately 5,600 square feet each, the home is spacious with 26 rooms and 17 fireplaces, each in a different style. Theodore Lyman, the seventh generation of Hartford Lymans, was a descendent of Richard Lyman who came to Hartford in 1636 with city founder Thomas Hooker.

The Lymans lived in the home until 1925, when Laura died.

Club member and fellow West Hartford resident Margaret Beers thought I might like to see the Club due to my interest in historic homes, and she generously invited me to join her for lunch and a tour of the premises. When entering the Club, I was transported back to a time where manners and social graces matter.

I was immediately welcomed by Club staff who took my coat and seated Margaret and I comfortably in front of the fire with our glass of wine, warmed by the flames and taking in the view of the downstairs with its traditional decor and striking architectural features, including the wood-paneled library and elaborately carved mahogany double staircase.

Margaret explained that a group of Hartford women purchased the Lyman house for $80,000 in 1925 (about $1.1m in today), creating the first private women’s city club in Connecticut. The Club founders were civic, social, and intellectual leaders who envisioned the Club as a center for advancing the interests of women and for promoting science, literature and art.

Among the Club’s past membership are ten women elected to the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, including Beatrice Fox Auerbach of the renowned G. Fox department store, Katherine Seymour Day, the woman who saved the homes of both Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Theodate Pope Riddle, one of the state’s first licensed female architects whose works include Hill-stead Museum and Avon Old Farms School.

The tradition of accomplished and active women members continues today. Members have varied backgrounds and interests and include executives from local universities and non-profits, such as Trinity College and the New Britain Museum of American Art. Attorneys, insurance professionals, healthcare professionals and more round out current membership along with women who have made volunteering for social and civic causes their life’s work.

While there is a wide age range in the Club’s membership, with some members in their twenties and others in their eighties and nineties, the majority of members are in their thirties through sixties. The Club has made changes over the years to encourage younger members to join, and to make the environment friendly to working women.

The Club formed in an era when women didn’t commonly work outside the home. They realized there was strength in numbers, and bonding together gave them power and influence in the community in addition to female friendship.

Women still seek the company and fellowship of other women, and they can find it at Town & County. Many programs are intentionally held in the early morning or after business hours to allow those who work to participate, and there is even a space in the Club for professionals to spend time working quietly on their laptop (with a Keurig coffeemaker close at hand).

As we moved from the fireplace into the dining room for lunch, Margaret explained that the Club also rents out its home for weddings, corporate meetings and other functions. With gleaming woodwork and chandeliers, formal decor and delicious menu options, it’s no surprise that brides and others find the Club a perfect venue.

Perhaps most important of all is the stewardship the Club members have shown towards its National Register home. The Lyman Heritage Preservation Foundation was founded with the express purpose of restoring and preserving the Lyman house as well as educating others on the legacy of the first private women’s city club in Connecticut. The Foundation has been honored by the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation and by the Hartford Preservation Alliance for its stewardship.

Town & County members are part of a reciprocal club exchange program with 25 other clubs across the country. As such, when a member travels, they can stay at a partner club. Each club has guest rooms at reasonable rates to house those traveling from afar. Barbara Bush has stayed at Town & County on more than one occasion while visiting the Hartford area.

While my initial interest was in seeing the Lyman home and learning about the history and architecture of the space, with Margaret as my guide I quickly became enamored with what Town & County stands for. It’s a place where women can come together both socially and for a cause, forming lifelong friendships with other women along the way.

Interested in joining a unique place with a longstanding history? Take a peek at the Club’s membership page. And if you are so fortunate, perhaps a member like Margaret will invite you to lunch. What do you think, ladies? Could you see yourself there?

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