Women?s club sets Tuesday meal

The Fairfield Women?s Club will host a public luncheon from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday at the McElhinny House.

The menu will include vegetable or beef lasagna, salads, bread sticks, pie and beverage.

Carry-outs and deliveries are available by calling 472-2616, 472-5762 or 919-2616.

Proceeds will be used for the maintenance of the historic McElhinny House.

The McElhinny House on Court Street just north of Jefferson County Courthouse was built for Robert McElhinny, a pioneer merchant, by John Lynn Jr., a carpenter. Both came to Fairfield from Washington County, Pa.

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

Most sources list the initial construction of the house as beginning in 1846, with completion between 1852 and 1857.

The home was Fairfield?s first showplace. One early source described the home as the embodiment of ?New England dignity and Southern hospitality.? From its inception, it was elegant with furnishings made of walnut, rosewood and mahogany.

Originally, the house had a parlor and sitting room on the south, a library, dining room and kitchen on the north, with a summer kitchen in the rear. Five bedrooms, each with its own fireplace, were upstairs. The house was surrounded by a high board fence.

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

The dwelling remained in the McElhinny family for 69 years. It was closed for various periods and rented as a rooming house and a private home.

The home had various owners, then sometime after World War I, it was bought by Fairfield?s school district, named Central School and used as elementary school until 1931.

In 1933, it was purchased 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 clubhouse.

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, meetings and other events.

After the McElhinny House was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, the McElhinny House Foundation was created as a nonprofit corporation to promote and preserve the historical background of Fairfield and the surrounding area, with the McElhinny House as its focal point.