Bishop - Generations later, club's home is still in good hands

The Inyo Register that was published on Feb. 3, 1949 included this photograph and caption reporting on the officers and members of the Bishop Women’s Improvement Club’s “happy occasion” marking the club’s outright ownership of its clubhouse on Home Street. Now the residence of the Hallenbeck family, the “still fairly original” building was recently awarded a Residential Beautification Award by the Bishop City Council. Photo courtesy private collection

3-1-2008

A rather familiar sentiment goes something like, “It takes a woman’s touch to make a house into a home.” In at least one instance, it would appear, it may take a woman’s touch to turn a women’s clubhouse into a home.

That was the message mixed amid words of gratitude as a local man accepted a Residential Beautification Award from the Bishop City Council.
Bishop City Councilman Bruce Dishion invited Tom Hallenbeck to join him at the podium during Monday’s council meeting for the award presentation, in recognition of improvements made at 587 Home St.
“Thank you very much for this award and those kind words,” Hallenbeck said, “it’s hard to believe that house has been a work in progress for 10 years already.” Then, as casual quips from council members came Hallenbeck’s way about “seeing you out there working on the house so often,” the soft-spoken award recipient let everyone know he hasn’t been the driving force in the changes that have been made.
“You know, it’s been Kellie’s dedication that has kept this going, and kept me out there so many weekends working on the house,” said Hallenbeck. “She’s really the one that had the vision of what should be done.” Kellie Hallenbeck, Tom’s obviously energetic and creative spouse, wasn’t able to be on hand for the award presentation, but Kellie “got her props” during Tom’s time in the spotlight.
The Hallenbecks’ family home for the past decade has been “home” to many since being built in 1919. “The house has an interesting history,” Hallenbeck told the council. “It originally served as the clubhouse for the Women’s Improvement Club. They (club members) did a lot of useful things – like I think they were the reason Bishop got its first public restroom – and they did a lot of things in the area of veterans assistance.”

The former Women’s Improvement Club, and current home of the Hallenbeck family, as it looks today, after about 10 years of hard work to fix up the aging, informal local landmark. Photo by Ken Koerner

Hallenbeck’s assertion about that “first public restroom” has yet to be confirmed – though it could easily be true – but records about the Women’s Improvement Club’s (WIC) activities, as reported in articles in The Inyo Register dating back to the 1930s, do indicate those ladies were busy with a multitude of projects. The WIC did things like collecting grease, silk stockings and other items destined to support World War II soldiers and the nation’s overall war effort, and they also pursued cultural activities like organizing the first art show in Inyo County.
Thanks to a scrapbook filled with the yellowing pages of those newspaper articles carefully clipped and placed under clear, protective covers, a lot of information has been archived about the club’s officers, members, activities and events in the era from the 1930s to the 1970s.
First organized in 1903, the WIC gained title to the clubhouse property in 1921. An original letter detailing the acquisition was written by “A. H. Swallow, Attorney at Law, Bishop, California” and was addressed to “Mrs. F. K. Andrews, President, Women’s Improvement Club, Bishop, Calif.”
Appropriately included under the clear covering on the first page in the scrapbook, the letter identifies Mary M. Albright as the party offering “a deed to the property to your club.” There is no mention of the price paid. One can safely speculate that it was a considerably lesser sum than the Hallenbecks paid some 75 years later.
An article published in The Inyo Register on Thursday, March 25, 1937 reports that the WIC, along with other Inyo County women’s clubs, gathered for an annual spring convention at which “the morning session was devoted to a few reports and their oft-enjoyed “assembly singing.” Frequent mentions permeate the preserved articles about the ladies’ participation in “assembly singing.”
No word yet on whether the Hallenbecks have preserved the tradition of “morning assembly singing,” though the Hallenbecks have confirmed that despite the substantial work done on the house, tradition has held its place, as “it is still fairly original.”