The Groves Women's Cooperative was established and incorporated under the names Groves Co-op Women's House on March 4, 1943 by a small group of students at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The coop was named in honor of Harold Groves, former university professor and state senator, who served as chairman of the incorporation meeting and as an advisor and advocate to the cooperative through much of its history. Although the coop was affiliated with the University, it operated independently and was owned and governed solely by its members. In addition to providing an economical housing alternative, Groves was an integrated, international housing facility. Their non-discriminatory policy was articulated in a 1944 Wisconsin State Journal interview. Groves Coop, the article stated, “is a demonstration that girls of different racial, religious, and ethnic groups could live happily together.”
The cooperative was initially located at 150 Langdon Street in what had been a men's housing cooperative until the beginning of the war. In its second year, with twenty-three members, Groves rented the Sigma Nu fraternity house at 625 North Henry Street. In 1946, with the help of Professor Groves, the coop secured a $5000 loan and bought their first house at 1104 West Johnson Street. They leased the basement of the new house to the newly-established, co-educational Green Lantern Eating Cooperative.
Sixteen years later the Groves building was condemned by the City of Madison and once again Professor Groves aided the coop, this time by helping them secure a loan for $30,000 from the Regents of the University of Wisconsin. The cooperative used this loan to purchase the Elisha Keyes House (formerly the Attic Angels Nursing Home) at 102 East Gorham Street.
In 1968 Groves and seven other Madison cooperatives joined in forming the Madison Association of Student Cooperatives, later the Madison Community Cooperative (MCC), an association designed to aid existing cooperatives and to facilitate the development of new organizations.
In 1972 the City of Madison designated the Groves house as a historic landmark. Later that year Groves organized a petition drive against the construction of a three-story apartment complex planned for an empty lot adjacent to their property. Their efforts preserved the lot, which was subsequently purchased by the city and developed as a period park.
Despite its historic status and the value of its building, Groves Cooperative was plagued by financial problems. Escalating fuel and maintenance costs forced up rental fees, which in turn discouraged prospective members. In addition, the amount of work required to maintain the building proved overwhelming to Groves members. At Groves' request, in 1980 MCC bought the coop, paid off its debt, and began making payments on its loan. By 1987 Groves' debt to MCC exceeded its financial resources. The remaining members and the MCC board of directors agreed that Groves was no longer a viable enterprise, and the coop closed at the end of May, 1987.
