Carthage Book Club

A 2007 Texas House resolution for the club's centennial calls it the oldest civic club in Panola County and dates its first permanent sidewalk to 1914 and its circulating library to 1920. It credits the club with the Anderson Park gazebo in 1969, a History of Panola County published in 1935 and a Panola College scholarship founded in 1954. After the county built a new courthouse and jail in 1953, the old jail became the Carthage Book Club historical museum, according to Stephen F. Austin State University's Peek into Panola series.

What the plaque says

Carthage Book Club IN 1907, TWELVE AREA WOMEN, INCLUDING TEXAS' FIRST WOMAN SENATOR, MARGIE NEAL, ESTABLISHED THE CIRCULATING BOOK CLUB. FOCUSING ON CIVIC AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN ADDITION TO LITERACY, THE CLUB'S FIRST MAJOR PROJECT WAS TO RAISE FUNDS FOR CARTHAGE'S FIRST SIDEWALK, CONNECTING DOWNTOWN TO THE SANTA FE RAILWAY. IN 1922, MEMBERS ESTABLISHED A CLUBHOUSE AND LADIES' RESTROOM, WHICH MET THE NEEDS OF RURAL WOMEN VISITING TOWN FOR TRADE AND BUSINESS. THE CLUB ALSO OPENED A PUBLIC LIBRARY, MAINTAINED A RED CROSS WORKROOM DURING WORLD WARS I AND II, AND LED BEAUTIFICATION PROJECTS, INCLUDING REVITALIZATION OF THE TOWN SQUARE. TODAY, THE CARTHAGE BOOK CLUB CONTINUES TO PROMOTE THE CIVIC, SOCIAL, AND LITERARY WELFARE OF THE COMMUNITY. (2010)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tex Ritter Museum and Texas Country Music Hall of Fame — 0.2 mi
  Carthage's country music museum, with Tex Ritter's boots, guitars and saddles in a room styled like a movie theater, and exhibits on other Texas stars, Jim Reeves among them.

More markers nearby

• Jonathan Anderson — steps away
• The Panola Watchman — steps away
• Margie Neal — steps away
• Central Baptist Church — steps away