Women?s club plans sale

The Fairfield Women?s Club will hold a Trash and Treasure Sale, a cookie walk and a plant sale from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the McElhinny House.

The Trash and Treasure Sale and the cookie walk will be inside the McElhinny House, and the plant sale will be out in its carriage house.

Proceeds will help with the maintenance of the historic McElhinny House.

The McElhinny House was built for pioneer merchant Robert McElhinny.

McElhinny acquired the building site Jan. 15, 1846, purchasing two lots for $60. Fairfield was less than 7 years old, and Iowa was still several months away from statehood on Dec. 28, 1846.

Most sources list the initial construction of the house as beginning in 1846, with completion between 1852 and 1857. It was Fairfield?s first showplace.

Robert McElhinny, once the largest private land owner in Jefferson County, died May 6, 1878, at the age of 74.

The dwelling remained in the McElhinny family for 69 years before it was sold. It had various owners before it was purchased in 1933 by the Fairfield Women?s Club through a bequest from the estate of Elizabeth McElhinny, daughter of Robert McElhinny. In her will, McElhinny gave $10,000 to the club to purchase a club house.

Since then, not only have Fairfield Women?s Club meetings been held in the historic house, but it has been the setting for parties, weddings, anniversaries, receptions, reunions, club meetings and many other events.

The McElhinny House was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.