By Emilie Parten, The Reporter on the Rove
On Wednesday, May 10, Kinsloe House celebrated its 87th birthday with a lively party full of esteemed members and associates and with a short concert by two very talented young people. In honor of Kinsloe House’s birthday, let us take a trip back to how it all started.
The Kinsloe how was a culmination of dreams from many Corsicana women. It has been home to the Women’s Club House Association of Navarro County since its beginning and has served as a non-profit organization since 1990. The original house was a gift from Mrs. Allie Mac Autry Kelley, Wife of Edward W. Kelley, in memory of her grandmother, Katie Kinsloe. The House was organized on November 19, 1937, and officially opened its doors on May 10, 1938.
Kinsloe House hosted its first luncheon on May 18, just eight days after opening, in an event sponsored by the Psychology Club. The lunch was attended by 152 people, and it is first program was a review of Dale Carnegie’s “How to Make Friends and Influence People” presented by Ms. Mabel Bonner. Lunches were a whopping fifty cents.
In 1988, The original house was lost in a fire. The Navarro County Community rallied to raise funds for a new building, fighting through adversity and uniting for the cause. The fundraising efforts were so successful that the new Kinsloe House was finished and opened completely free of debt.
The Kinsloe House Programs have ranged from concerts to history lessons to book reviews to deep dives into the lives of influential members of the community, both past and present. Through their efforts and organization, the community has learned about Dandy Don Meredith, the pearl industry, the American Constitution, Dr. Neal Green and Irish foods, just to name a few.
The topics range so widely that you never really know what the Kinsloe House will have for you next. Each speaker is fun to listen to, and each lunch brings with it a new lesson to learn of a new piece of wisdom to heed.
With 87 years of service already, there is no end in sight for the Kinsloe House.