In the late 1800s, women in Kentucky were not allowed to own property, nor could they retain custody of their children in the event of a divorce.

A group of Louisville women set out to change that, and more than a century later, they're still going strong.

Our Chip Holston introduces us to the Women's Club of Louisville.

Well, the Women's Club of Louisville has been a civic force in the area since 1890.

They are also the keepers of a remarkable event facility in Louisville that's celebrating a milestone.

Here to tell us about this is Trudy Wheeler.

She is president of the Louisville Women's Club.

Trudy, thanks so much for being with us.

Thank you for having me.

So folks who aren't familiar with the Women's Club of Louisville.

Tell them about what that is and how it operates.

Yes.

So we were founded, as you said, in 1890.

And what the foundation and the mission was is that we would support civic organizations, that we would work in the community, philanthropic education in there.

But anything that had especially to do with women and children and also in cultivating the fine arts, very interested in the fine arts from the very beginning.

And when you talk about some of the things you've done in the area, it was really interesting in going back and looking at some of the history of the organization in the early 1900s.

It's remarkable to think that the organization actually had to do this.

But you all lobbied for women to have the right to own property in Kentucky, as well as to have custody of their children in case of a divorce.

Things that we would take for granted today.

What are some other things that the organization has really been able to do?

Well, the interesting thing, too, is that many of our founding members were suffragists.

So we have a marker, historical marker for our founder, Susan Look, Avery, who was very instrumental in the in getting the right to vote for women.

But some of the other things that we've done is we've worked on parks for children so that we could get playgrounds in the community for children.

We founded the Legal Aid Society.

We also founded co-founded with the Kiwanis, the Louisville Deaf Oral School.

And it started actually in the basement of our building, outgrew that and moved in what we call our carriage house.

And now it is also known now as the Hisar Hearing and Language Academy.

And we still support them and they are celebrating 75 years today.

So we do a whole lot of community outreach, civic kind of work.

Well, it's a rich history.

And in addition to that, you all have a pretty amazing facility that's celebrating a milestone.

And you have some things around that.

Tell us.

About.

Yes.

Okay.

So the building itself is 100 this year, and we are celebrating that by kicking off with a cabaret concert on March the fourth.

We chose a concert because the first thing that was performed on the stage when the building was finished was actually a concert by a famous opera singer.

So we've gone with the concert.

And so March the fourth, that will be our kickoff to several things that we'll do throughout the year.

So we'll have a few more smaller celebrations in the spring and spring, but in the summer and in the fall.

So when you referenced the facility, what is the facility for folks who may not be familiar?

Yes.

Okay.

So I even know you.

We see your pictures.

You're a little bit impressed with what was very much so.

Yeah.

Well, we don't want to be the best kept secret in town, but we do have a theater of auditorium seats, 680, and it has a very nice stage.

And the sounds and the acoustics in there are incredible.

And we use it for plays.

We're getting ready to produce a play in May.

We have music, concerts, those kind of things.

We also rent it out for recitals, dance recitals, music recitals, speakers.

Also on our campus in the clubhouse, we have a dining room that seats 156 people.

It's a great venue for weddings.

Right.

And so we've started renting to weddings and hosting those.

And we also very unusual.

We have a we have a grand piano.

Not that that's unusual, but we've also had recently two young ladies that were auditioning for a very important arts school or a workshop, and they rented our grand piano to come and play and be recorded on our stage for their audition.

So we have a lot of different ways that we can run our facility and what we have, but we just like the community to see it more.

Well, you've had a long and prominent history here in the Louisville area.

Good luck with the event Coming up.

We'll be anxious to see what else you have going on.

Once again, that's Trudy Wheeler, president of the Woman's Club of Louisville.