Murfreesboro, TN – Nestled at the corner of East College and North Academy Streets, a stately Italianate home has stood quietly for 169 years, watching Murfreesboro grow and change around it. But time, as it tends to do, left its mark. A century of use by the Woman’s Club of Murfreesboro brought wear and tear to the home, and by 2016, The Woman’s Club secured 501(c)(3) nonprofit status with a renewed mission: to preserve the Baskette-Woman’s Club building, not just as a meeting space, but as a living piece of Murfreesboro’s history.
The elegant home was built in 1856 by Confederate surgeon Robert Turner Baskette and his wife Helen Crichlow. The house weathered the Civil War, survived the devastating downtown tornado of 1913, and remained one of the few pre-Civil War homes still standing in the heart of the city.
In 1916, the home found new life when it was purchased by The Woman’s Club of Murfreesboro from the estate of local hotelier James Monroe Haynes. That same year, the Club was officially incorporated and chartered, and the house became more than just a residence—it became a hub for cultural, literary, and philanthropic activity. For decades, the Club offered programs that enriched the community and preserved a historic collection of literary works that served as Murfreesboro’s first public lending library from 1887 to 1948…