Timeline

1898
August 10

1898

1898
Minnie J. Reynolds, political writer for the Rocky Mountain News, founds the Denver Woman’s Press Club with 19 professional friends. DWPC Founder Minnie J. Reynolds organized for women’s right to vote in Colorado and passage of the 19th Amendment nationwide.
1912
October 18

1912

Member Helen Ring Robinson elected to Colorado State Senate, the first woman senator in Colorado and second woman state senator in the U.S.
1918
July 2

1918

Member Mary Florence Lathrop, newspaper reporter and lawyer, is one of the first women admitted to the American Bar Association. She was also the first woman admitted to the Colorado Bar Association and the first woman to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
1924
April 3

1924

Denver Woman's Press Club located at 1325 Logan St, Denver 80203
Denver Woman’s Press Club purchases the home of renowned artist George Elbert Burr and turns it into a clubhouse.
1930
May 13

1930s

Member Helen Marie Black, journalist for the Rocky Mountain News and publicist for Denver Dry Goods, co-founds the Denver Symphony Orchestra. She became the first woman symphony manager in the United States, and continued in that role for over 30 years.
1945
September 17

1940s

Members join war effort as journalists and volunteers, hosting servicemen at the clubhouse and organizing war bond sales.
November 6

1945

The Home of "Harvey"
Member Mary Coyle Chase, journalist and playwright, wins Pulitzer Prize for Harvey. It was made into a movie starring Jimmy Stewart in 1950 and has been staged thousands of times in theaters large and small.
1970
July 16

1970s & 1980s

Dottie Lamm
Member Dottie Lamm, journalist and activist, serves as First Lady of Colorado.
1980
October 19

1980s

Barbara Sudler Hornby serves as president of the Colorado Historical Society (now History Colorado). Hannah Marie Wormington and Edwina Fallis inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.
1987
October 19

1987

Mt. Arps
Mount Arps in Sawatch Range named for member Louisa Arps.
1990
April 18

1990s

Denver Woman’s Press Club restores its iconic clubhouse at 1325 Logan Street. It is listed on the Colorado Register of Historic Places. 
October 19

1990s-2000s

Member Pat Pascoe serves as a Colorado state senator.
1998
August 12

1998

Centennial celebration. Club published The Women Who Made the Headlines, a history of the club.
2000
February 16

2000s

Member Helen Thorpe, journalist, authors bestsellers Just Like Us and The Newcomers.
2010
October 19

2010s

Author's Hall of Fame
Margaret Coel garners five WILLA Awards in Fiction and is inducted into the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame.
2012
November 7

2012

Mary Coyle Chase’s play Harvey returns to Broadway, starring Jim Parsons.
2020
October 19

2020s

Author's Hall of Fame
Members Sandra Dallas, Charlotte Hinger, and Hannah Marie Wormington inducted into the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame.
2022
August 18

2022

We updated our website.

DWPC first president Minnie J. ReynoldsThe Denver Woman’s Press Club (DWPC) was founded in 1898 by nineteen charter members, including organizer and first president Minnie J. Reynolds.

Reynolds was an influential suffrage leader, serving as “Press Secretary” in the victorious 1893 Colorado campaign, and later as a national suffrage organizer. She was one of the first woman political writers for the Rocky Mountain News, and an early woman stump speaker and activist in the Populist Party.

The Club’s membership, throughout its history, has included numerous women leaders. Among them:

  • Mary Elizabeth Bates, one of the first women doctors in Denver
  • Mary Florence Lathrop, one of Denver’s first women lawyers
  • Helen Ring Robinson, Colorado’s first woman state senator
  • Helen Marie Black, first woman business manager of a major symphony orchestra (she was instrumental in the founding of the Denver Symphony)
  • Mary Coyle Chase, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the play Harvey

In 1924, the DWPC purchased the studio home of George Elbert Burr, an artist famous for his etchings of Colorado. The clubhouse was declared eligible as a historic landmark in 1968 and placed on the state register of historic places in 1995.

As part of its 1998 Centennial Celebration, the Denver Woman’s Press Club restored the building and garden with funds obtained from the Colorado Historical Fund and private donations. The small clubhouse continues to be a community center, open to the public for author receptions and other special events.

Many literary luminaries have been guests of DWPC including Denverite William Barrett, Barbara Cartland, Mary Higgins Clark, Barbara Kingsolver, James Michener, Robert MacNeil, Anna Quindlen, Tracy Chevalier, and Annie Proulx.

Today the DWPC membership includes over 200 writing professionals in various fields – publishing, journalism, electronic communications, advertising, marketing, public relations, trade and business publications, history, education, freelance market, fundraising, and government.

For more information on the history of the Denver Woman’s Press Club, consult The Women Who Made the Headlines: Denver Woman’s Press Club, The First Hundred Years, co-authored and edited by DWPC members Clé Cervi and Nancy M. Peterson, published in 1998. This complete and engaging history is available at the Tattered Cover Book Store and the Denver Public Library.

Mission Statement

The Denver Woman’s Press Club’s goals are as relevant today as they were when they were first composed by founder Minnie Reynolds in 1898.

The Denver Woman’s Press Club continues to honor its heritage, functioning as a stimulating gathering place for people in literary, journalistic and media endeavors; promoting the cultivation of friendship and providing moral support to members; encouraging through educational and philanthropic means the pursuit of writing; and, in the words of club founders, offering a haven to drive dull care away!