The Kaukauna Woman's Club, founded in 1897, was one of the five earliest member clubs of the Eighth District of the Wisconsin Federation of Women's Clubs (WFWC). The club evolved from the Mutual Improvement and Literary Society of South Kaukauna, which was organized on December 5, 1894, and which held its final meeting on February 27, 1896. On September 7, 1897, a meeting was held to organize another literary improvement club, which adopted the name “The Woman's Club.” The club's purpose, as stated in its constitution of February 25, 1898, was “to promote the intellectual development of its members, to engender among them a spirit of social harmony and mutual helpfulness and to work for the establishment of a public library in the city.” Club members petitioned the Kaukauna Common Council to support their efforts, and secured a Carnegie grant for construction of a library. In 1905 the president of the club laid the cornerstone of the Kaukauna Public Library.
While participating in the special activities and charities of the WFWC, such as promotion of the fine arts and conservation, the other major efforts of the Kaukauna Woman's Club were in the area of community health. Among its programs, the club hired the first city nurse (1920); purchased scales for weighing school children (1920); began a child welfare clinic in the schools (1921), and as a result of the medical tests, initiated and sponsored for many years the school milk program; started a free dental clinic (1921), which was carried on for 23 years; raised money for a dental chair; and provided free toothbrushes for needy children. In addition, the club began a tuberculosis clinic for high school students; started diphtheria education and immunization programs (1930); sponsored whooping cough inoculation clinics; furnished a bed at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Appleton, and donated 800 dollars to provide a room at Kaukauna Community Hospital. The club furnished magazine subscriptions and rehabilitation and craft supplies for patients at Riverview Sanatorium, contributed 200 dollars to the city ambulance drive in 1942, and awarded two nursing scholarships in 1943.
On September 9, 1947, the club celebrated its Golden Jubilee. Thirty years later, “because the members could no longer carry on the work of the organization in its areas of service,” they voted unanimously on August 16, 1977, to disband the Kaukauna Woman's Club.
