One chilly day in December 1890, nineteen women met in Boston’s Back Bay.  Their mission?  To form a club where college-educated women could “enjoy sociability and companionship” while advancing their knowledge of literature, public affairs, history and the arts.

They hosted programs, social events and lectures, attracting literary stars such as Oliver Wendell Holmes, feminist Lucy Stone and Mark Twain. A century later, The College Club of Boston, the oldest such club in America, remains a diverse and dynamic women’s membership organization that more than fulfills the mission of its founders. 

With afternoon tea, fashion shows, concerts and more, our members enjoy the sociability for which the Club was founded.  We learn at lectures, engage in discussion at book clubs, stage art exhibits and entertain friends in our Victorian brownstone.  We network to further our career goals.  We connect with neighbors and make new friends.

We also enjoy reciprocity with exclusive private clubs in London, New York, Newport, RI and more, affording us privileges usually restricted to these clubs' members, such as bargain rates to stay at their elegant clubhouses.  We use the Club’s beautiful Back Bay brownstone as our pied à terre in the city, or as a guestroom for family and friends.

Finally, the members of The College Club of Boston are dedicated to educational philanthropy, with a campaign that each year raises scholarship funds for Boston public school seniors.

Did you know?

•     Founded in 1890 with annual dues of $12 per year, The College Club of Boston is the oldest such club in the country. 

•     Guests and lecturers at The College Club have included Mark Twain, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Senator Edward Kennedy. 

•     The Club’s beautiful Victorian clubhouse at 44 Commonwealth Avenue was built in 1864 and purchased for $50,000 in 1925.

•     The cost of tea for members and their guests has actually gone down!  Five cents a cup in 1896, afternoon tea is free for members and their guests today.

•     Our members range in age from 28 years to 90+ years old.  They include lawyers, doctors, homemakers, realtors, scientists and entrepreneurs.

•     The Club’s bed and breakfast bedrooms were originally residential “sleeping rooms” for the members, decorated in colors to reflect those of well-known women’s colleges like crimson for Radcliffe and blue for Wellesley. 

•     Many of our lovely antiques and artwork were willed to the Club by loyal members.

•     In 2004 the Club raised over $15,000 in college scholarship funds to benefit 11 high school seniors in Boston neighborhoods including Dorchester, Roslindale and South Boston.  In addition, $1,000 is given each year to the Community Music Center of Boston.

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