A statue of Clementine Berry Buchwalter now stands in the side yard of the Woman’s Town Club at 805 E. High St. In 1894, she stood at the center of the movement that helped women find a public voice in a progressive era.

The town club will celebrate its 90^th anniversary Sunday with an open house from 2 to 5 p.m.

Visitors can stroll through and enjoy refreshments and pick up a copy of “A History of the House,” Town Club member Kathy Kalinos’ account of the people who owned the residence from its construction in 1852 until it became the Woman’s Town Club in 1922.

Buchwalter, one of those residents, was a major mover in the women’s club movement in Ohio.

The history of the Ohio Federation of Women’s Clubs said the movement here “began with her keen perception of the possibilities of organized womanhood.”

Among the first steps of women as they expanded their influence during the so-called Progressive Era was through literary clubs. Before that, the notion that women would study and think on their own was something of a novelty.

Born Feb. 8, 1843, Clementine Berry had grown up during such an era but had been among the early wave of women to attend college. She studied at the Ohio Wesleyan Female College in Delaware, Ohio, graduating in 1862, when her future husband was serving in the Civil War.

Capt. Edward Buchwalter was himself a progressive sort, having led the 53rd United States Mississippi Colored Infantry Volunteers during the war.

They married in 1868 and moved to Springfield in 1873 when he took a job at James Leffel and Co. Capt. Buchwalter later helped to organize the Superior Drill Co. and American Seeding Machine Company then was selected president of Springfield’s Lagonda Citizens’ National Bank.

The Buchwalters moved into what would become the Woman’s Town Club in 1893, the year before she traveled to Philadelphia, Pa., for a meeting of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. At the convention, Ohio women decided to organize at the state level. Mrs. Buchwalter was chosen to chair the committee.

That October, 78 clubs and their 233 delegates gathered at Springfield’s Masonic Temple to officially organize, then were part of a gala party of 500 at the Arcade Hotel.

In Springfield and around the state, club members not only expanded their intellects through literary clubs, but involved themselves in Progressive Era issues like child labor laws.

The Buchwalter home became a center for club activities and a stopping point for club women from around both Ohio and the nation.

Mrs. Buchwalter reaped the rewards of her active life, being made honorary vice president of the National Federation, honorary president of the Ohio State Federation, and being called on to pass out diplomas to Ohio Wesleyan graduates in 1912, 50 years after her graduation.

When Clementine fell ill that year, Capt. Buchwalter had her taken to a private sanitarium in Dansville, N.Y., that had tended to Frederick Douglass and Clara Barton.

When Clementine died that November, Edward donated $6,000 toward a $10,000 memorial endowment fund to benefit the Ohio Federation clubs. Ten years later, when he and his second wife, Clementine’s cousin Marilla, sold the home, they provided $5,000 toward its $25,000 purchase for the Woman’s Town Club.

The club now is home to regular bridge, euchre and maj jong games, hosts the pre-performance dinners for the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and rents the facility for graduation celebrations, wedding receptions and like occasions.

The Club thus tries to make the money necessary to meet the expenses involved in maintaining a large historic home.