The original Lyons Civic Club was founded in 1902 as a political equality club. Membership consisted of both men and women and the first meetings were held in members’ homes. Speakers were noted suffrage workers. After a year, the Club changed its name to the Lyons Civic Club, started meeting in the business blocks downtown and focused more on various civic affairs. The lectures topics broadened with time to include more topics of entertainment or general interest.
One of the Club’s first accomplishments was that they purchased the equipment of the school’s Sewing and Manual Training program in 1904. For several years following, they paid half the teacher’s annual salary.
In 1912 the group raised $350 to rent space downtown to house The Civic Club Free Reading Room. The collected and purchased books, and, when the school burned in 1920, the Lyons Civic Club donated 3,650 books to create a foundation for the new school library. They also donated money that was used to procure magazines and books of fiction for several years following the construction of the new school.
In 1918, the Club raised $149,500 in the Liberty Loan Drives. During World War II, members supported the troops by knitting garments for the British Relief and purchased War Bonds. The Civic Club organized the Parent Teachers Association in 1923 and started the Student Loan Fund in 1936. Other groups organized by the Club were the Little Theater Group, the Historical Society, the Lyons Public Library and the Student Exchange Program. They also donated money for an ambulance and the annual Community Christmas Tree.
The group bettered Lyons in other ways, as well. They provided lectures on a wide variety of topics that were open to the public; planted flowers, shrubs and trees; and affixed markers to historic buildings and placed plaques to identify places of importance to the history of Lyons.
The most popular fundraising event that the Club sponsored was the Civic Club Ball. Held annually between Christmas and New Year, the dinner dance was an elegant affair, prompting the ladies to buy new gowns and the men to get fitted for tuxedos. Early dances were held at Knowlees’ or Zimmerlin’s Hall. Later galas were held in the Elk’s Club Hall, the Lyons Community Center and the Wayne Hotel.
After 70 years of serving the community and after other hard-working civic minded groups were formed, the Club disbanded in the 1970’s.
In 2004, the Lyons Civic Club was revived and incorporated on December 20, of that year. The present-day Lyons Civic Club remains a charitable organization with an educational and cultural focus. However, the club differs from its earlier version in its emphasis on local history and to provide projects and programming for students and adults Lyons. Club-sponsored programs take many forms: lectures, reading and discussions programs, publications, historical dramatizations and more. The Civic Club also values and supports the projects of the Lyons Community Center, Lyons Central School Music Program,Lyons Heritage, Main Street Program,Lyons Public Library, PumpkinPalooza and Peppermint Days projects. The club also has supported Village beautification projects and helped restore the Town Clock and Village fountains.
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