So long as Pacific Grove is animated with the spirit under which it was founded, so long will it honor such gentlewomen as Mrs. Lucie A. Chase, of 967 Ocean boulevard, decidedly one of the representative residents of this representative town. She was born at Plainfield, New Hampshire, and christened Lucie A. Moore. At Concord, in that same state, in 1863, she was married to Henry B. Chase, a native of New Hampshire, who passed away in April, 1922. For fifteen years they lived in New York city, and in the centennial year of the republic, 1876, they went west to Colorado Springs, Colorado.
In 1880 Mr. and Mrs. Chase moved further west, going first to California, and later for thirty years, their home was in Portland, Oregon, where Mr. Chase embarked in business. In 1901 however they came to Pacific Grove, charmed with the exceptionally-located prospective health resort, and two years later they built their home here. Quite recently Mrs. Chase has completed a still more beautiful residence in the Beach addition, on the point overlooking beautiful Monterey bay, and in doing so, she has given expression to her true character, as one of the most progressive and public spirited citizens, ready at all times to lend her aid in every possible way to promoting the best interests of the community in which she resides.
Mrs. Chase has always been an active worker in the Mayflower Congregational church of Pacific Grove, supporting it freely with her time and money, and the same may be said of her identification with that other eminently deserving, as it is preeminently important society, the Woman’s Civic Improvement Club of Pacific Grove, of which she was the first vice president and third president. This club was organized February 2, 1903, with fourteen members, and Miss Julia B. Platt was the first president. Miss Platt and Mrs. S. E. Philbrick may be rightfully called the mothers of the club. Mrs. Lucie A. Chase was the first vice president, Miss S. E. Lowe, secretary, and Mrs. C. D. Smith, treasurer. The president at that time appointed Mrs. E. S. Beach, Mrs. E. B. Brown, Mrs. S. E. Philbrick, and Miss Ethel Prouty to complete the executive board.
After four years of successful, fruitful existence and activity, the Woman’s Civic Improvement Club of Pacific Grove under the presidency of Mrs. Chase was duly incorporated October 14, 1907, and serving with her on the following board of directors were: Mrs. Stella J. Walkington, Mrs. Emily Tuttle, Mrs. Flora Philbrick, Mrs. Lizzie E. Cordy, Mrs. M. A. Grimes, Mrs. M. A. Anderson, Mrs. J. P. Pryor and Mrs. Nina S. Sheppa.
The first meeting of the club was held in the city hall, February 2, 1903, after a preliminary and informal meeting to consider the formation of a club had been held on January 16, 1903. A constitution was submitted and adopted, and at the next meeting the city was divided into districts, with committees appointed to make a house to house visit to consult with residents in relation to order -and cleanliness of their immediate neighborhood, while the board of trustees was asked to cooperate in regard to the dumping of garbage on vacant lots. Thus the good work through which Pacific Grove has been so materially improved and her fair fame extended, was started in a systematic way.
Since then the work of the Woman’s Civic Club has been as varied as it has been extensive, and one of its earliest accomplishments was the placing of street signs. A committee was organized for the prevention of cruelty to animals, receptacles were provided for waste papers and in 1906 seats for the public were placed at intervals along the water-front and around two large trees on the main thoroughfare. A convenient and artistic “lookout,” constructed of wood and stone, was erected on Lover’s Point, commanding an unrivaled view of the coast line, the bay and the distant mountains, and on this laudable undertaking alone the club spent no less than five hundred and fifty dollars. During 1908, too, the Club worked very earnestly to install the electric arc-lights, and at its own expense, placed one in the park, over the fountain, while through its able committee, of which Mrs. Winston was chairman, the club succeeded in placing nineteen such lights throughout the town. The ladies solicited in person the money necessary for this more costly innovation and succeeded in raising about one thousand, three hundred dollars for the purpose. Early in 1909 the club laid the two cross walks of Pajaro rock and Portland cement on Lighthouse and Forest avenues, at an expense of one hundred and seventy dollars. The club also provided fifteen benches near the music stand at a cost of three dollars and seventy-five cents each.
With untiring and united effort, much ingenuity and comparatively small expense, the clever women of the Pacific Grove Club have accomplished wonders. The matter of a home for the club has been before the well organized body for something over two years, and a fund, which had its beginning in the calendar contribution scheme, was started, and the purpose kept well in mind by the earnest and capable workers, resulting, in less time than at first anticipated, in the actual completion of the building. The ground on which the building stands is a portion of a half-block of land given by Mrs. Harriet Crocker Alexander to the Pacific Grove Museum Association in 1902. Completed, the clubhouse presents a most artistic exterior, in shingled bungalow effect, with a porch running the length of the assembly room, fifty feet by twelve, bordered by geranium boxes. The windows are colonial, as is the interior finish of the structure, which has, besides the assembly hall, which is twenty-five feet by fifty feet in size, a reception room, twenty-four feet by thirty feet, a dining room, sixteen feet by thirty-four feet, a finely-appointed kitchen, china cabinets, dressing room, and a large attic. One of. the beauties and comforts of the reception room is a large big-log fireplace. The chimney, built within, adds greatly to the general effect of a grand staircase, leading to the upper quarters. Wood finish and the colonial idea carried into the furnishings give a suggestion of solid comfort.
Source: History of Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties, California : cradle of California’s history and romance : dating from the planting of the cross of Christendom upon the shores of Monterey Bay by Fr. Junipero Serra, and those intrepid adventurers who accompanied him, down to the present day. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1925.