Ventura County Landmark No. 19: Port Hueneme Women’s Improvement Club

The Hueneme Women’s Improvement Club was organized in 1906 for the purpose of maintaining a library and improving the streets, houses, and public places of the town. In 1915, Mary Bard, wife of Thomas Robert Bard, gave the land and the club building (built the same year) to the organization. Located in the original town of Hueneme, the Women’s Improvement Club building is one of the few remaining California bungalow style buildings in Port Hueneme (Triem, 1988). Thomas Robert Bard was an American political leader in California who was instrumental in the founding of the town of Hueneme and the organization of Ventura County. Mr. Bard represented the state in the United States Senate from 1900 to 1905. Other landmarks related to the Bard family include the following: No. 20, 24, 31, 32, 49, 50, 88 and 153.

The club building contained a library in the west room and a meeting room on the east side. After the city library was built in 1935, the partition was taken down and the one large room became the meeting place for organizations. The Women’s Improvement Club also supported US troops in World War I through their sewing efforts and by holding fundraising projects. Throughout the 20th century, the clubhouse was used for social events, classes, and rummage sales (National Park Service, 2018). As late as 1989, the Women’s Improvement Club still maintained the building, by that time Ventura County’s oldest, continuously used women’s clubhouse. The building is currently used as a private residence.

The clubhouse was declared Ventura County Landmark #19 on November 15, 1971, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.