FREESTONE COUNTY JUDGE Linda Grant, flanked by Fairfield History Club members Kathleen McKee, left, and Kay Neal, signs a proclamation recognizing the club’s 85th anniversary. The signing was held at the downstairs courthouse women’s restroom, the first meeting place for the club. To mark their 85th anniversary, Fairfield History Club members held a reception Friday morning at the original meeting place of the club, the women’s restroom of the Freestone county courthouse.

Friday was the actual anniversary date for the club.

In honor of the occasion, County Judge Linda Grant signed a proclamation of congratulations for the accomplishments of Fairfield History Club over the years.

The organization was founded on March 19, 1925, when 17 women gathered in the basement restroom, and convened there until 1934 when they started meeting in members’ homes.

In 1967, the club bought the historic Moody- Bradley house where it meets monthly and hosts the annual Queen of the Trinity Star lunchon, melodrama and style show.

ATTENDING A RECEPTION at the downstairs women’s restroom of the courthouse commemorating the formation of Fairfield History Club 85 years ago are: front l-r, Cynthia Kethley, Anniece Moody, Kathryn Davis, Juliette Coleman and Mayor Roy Hill; back l-r, Kathleen McKee, Patricia Tate, Kay Neal and Sandra McLeod. The plantation home, built in 1860 by Col. W.L. Moody, has been restored as an ongoing project and is furnished with period antiques.

Focus of the club since its founding is social improvement, education, historical preservation and the development of its members for community service.

From 1959 until 1968, the club housed the public library at a building that served as its clubhouse, and provided staffing for the library.

The club annually awards a college scholarship to a graduating Fairfield high school senior student and has been involved in numerous civic projects over the past 85 years.

Attending the reception were members Sandra McLeod, Anniece Moody, Kathryn Davis, Juliette Coleman, Kathleen McKee, Patricia Tate, Kay Neal and Cynthia Kethley, and Fairfield Mayor Roy Hill, whose mother and grandmother served as presidents of the club.