San Antonio Section, National Council of Jewish Women

The San Antonio section joined an organization barely fourteen years old. In 1893 Hannah G. Solomon of Chicago was asked to organize Jewish women's participation in the Chicago World's Fair; when she and her recruits found they were expected to serve coffee and act as hostesses, they withdrew and formed a council of their own. Its early work centered on educating Jewish women and helping immigrants become self-sufficient through study circles, vocational training, school health programs and free dispensaries. In 1908 the national council called for a federal anti-lynching law.

What the plaque says

San Antonio Section, National Council of Jewish Women On May 13, 1907, the San Antonio Section of the National Council of Jewish Women was organized in the Menger Hotel. Anna Hertzberg was elected president by the 15 charter members. The council immediately became active in the development of social services in the city, establishing a night school to provide English instruction to adult immigrants and organizing projects to address such concerns as literacy and public health. In the 1930s, members established a neonatal and well baby clinic. They set up a day care center for working mothers in support of the 1940s war effort and developed the Lighthouse for the Blind during that time, as well. The council continues its work, assessing the needs of the community and creating or assisting agencies to assume council-initiated projects as self-sustaining interests. (2000)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Alamo — steps away
  Mission San Antonio de Valero before it was a fort: a church its builders never finished, a thirteen-day siege in 1836, and the Army gable of 1850-52 that became its emblem.
• La Villita Historic Arts Village — 0.2 mi
  The little village across the river from the presidio, where Cos surrendered San Antonio in 1835, rebuilt by Depression-era youth crews as a working crafts village.
• San Antonio River Walk — 0.2 mi
  A Depression-era park one level below downtown, built because San Antonio refused to pave its river after the 1921 flood, and designed by an architect the project later fired.
• San Fernando Cathedral — 0.5 mi
  The Canary Islanders' parish church on Main Plaza, where Bowie married and Santa Anna raised a red flag, rebuilt in Gothic Revival around the walls of the 1750s church.

More markers nearby

• Barbed Wire Demonstration — steps away
• Menger Hotel — steps away
• Pan American Round Table — steps away
• John Hermann Kampmann — steps away