The Literary Club of Cincinnati is located at 500 East Fourth Street, across from Lytle Park in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. The club occupies a two-story Greek Revival house which was built in 1820, on the site of the home of William Sargent, secretary of the Northwest Territory. The Club was founded in 1849; its membership is limited to 100 men.[1]
The club was founded by woman's rights activist and abolitionist John Celivergos Zachos, Stanley Matthews (judge), Ainsworth Rand Spofford librarian of congress and 9 others. One year later President Rutherford B. Hayes became a member. Other prominent members included President William Howard Taft and notable club guests Ralph Waldo Emerson, Booker T. Washington, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde and Robert Frost.[2]
Today, the clubhouse is a contributing property to the Lytle Park Historic District,[3] a historic district that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[4]
Among the important roles of the Literary Club is that of historian, who delivers an annual paper on a topic of his choosing that deals with the history of the club. The long-time historian was John A. Diehl, who was elected a member of the club in 1965. After his more than two decades in the post, the club published a book of his papers as historian. The current historian is Robert Vitz.
References
- ^ Kenny, Daniel J. (1895). Illustrated Guide to Cincinnati and the World's Columbian Exposition. R. Clarke. p. 145. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
- ^ "Topping, Eva Catafygiotu" John Zachos Cincinnatian from Constantinople The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin Volumes 33-34 Cincinnati Historical Society 1975: p. 51
- ^ National Register District Address Finder Archived 2013-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, Ohio Historical Society, 2010. Accessed 2010-10-04.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
Further reading
- Federal Writers Project. Cincinnati: a Guide to the Queen City and Its Neighbors. Cincinnati: Wiesen-Hart, 1943, 168.
External links
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