UDC to Celebrate Memorial Building's 50th Anniversary

On November 11, 2007 the Daughters of the Confederacy will be celebrating their golden anniversary of their beloved UDC Memorial building, a facility that many of their original founders and members doubtless thought would never come to pass. As a proud member of the Daughters of the Confederacy I would like to take you back in time for a look backward to see what the last fifty years have brought and look forward to see what may lie ahead in the future.

Looking at the Memorial Building, one finds it hard to recall a time when there was no centralized office, when the general officers kept the bulk of the records in their respective homes, wherever that might have been. Yet, fifty years ago, that is how we existed, functioned, and began to grow.

At the 1933 Annual General Convention, the bylaws were amended to establish a business office where the clerical functions of the recording secretary general and the registrar general would be handled. The office would employ an office manager and be under the direction of the president general. It was temporarily located in St. Louis, Missouri.

In 1934, St. Louis was ratified as the permanent location, headed by the first office manager, Rosemary Williams, who was succeeded in 1937 by Louisianna Jaco.

In 1948, President General Mrs. John F. Weinmann, in Savannah, said:

Daughters, the time has come when we must give serious thought to a permanent place of adobe for ourselves...There can be no better memorial to the women of the confederacy than a building devoted to the use of their daughters to carry on their work of loving memory.

As early as 1950 the initiative was continuing, to arrive at stability of intention and purpose and to put down roots where we could move forward. Montgomery, Alabama, Charleston, South Carolina, Jackson, Mississippi, Savannah, Georgia, and Richmond, Virginia, were suggested as sites for the UDC's headquarters. It was only when the commonwealth of Virginia offered a substantial plot of land, beautifully and meaningfully situated in R. E. Lee Park between the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Battle Abbey that the scales tipped in Virginia's favor, and the building process became a reality.

The building fundraising period began, with $2 per member per year to be contributed for a period of four years, for a total to be raised of $320,000. Two Divisions had completed their quotas in 1953; Florida led the way, followed by New York. By the end of 1955, fifteen more Divisions had fulfilled their quotas, as well as about ten individual Chapters.

On April 18, 1957, several hundred proud Daughters assembled on the lot for the groundbreaking ceremony. President General Mrs. A. Belmont Dennis presided. Other dignitaries present included the architect, Louis Ballou, and the Hon. W. Garland Gray, a U.S. senator from Virginia.

Mrs. Jaco, not trusting the moving vans, carefully packed and marked each box of files and rode in the truck all the way to Richmond. She stayed long enough to set up all of the files and other matters before retiring to Missouri.

Construction continued until the dedication ceremony was held in November of 1957. When the last pieces of steel were erected, a Confederate flag was raised at the highest point to indicate that the work had been completed. The dedication came in conjunction with the 64th Annual General Convention. Although the building was ready, there was little furniture, so some seven hundred chairs had to be rented for the attendees in all of the corridors and other rooms and "an overflow group on the front walk and front grounds, where the John Marshall High School orchestra was seated."

Over the years, additional work was needed. Additional doors had to be cut, curtains and draperies replaced, carpeting installed, and additional lighting wired. Air conditioning and humidity controls were also added, together with sound and intercom systems.

With the opening of the Memorial Building, a long-awaited dream had finally come true. The building had facilities for the storage of records and furnishings. Eventually two libraries were up and running in the building, and there was a gracious dining room, which has been the site of numerous small group functions. The UDC finally had a home.

The fiftieth anniversary of the Memorial Building will be celebrated with great joy on November 11, 2007; it will definitely be a "happy new year."

If you don't know or have never heard of this organization the United Daughters of the Confederacy is the oldest patriotic organization in America. The UDC has many, many functions but the main purpose it to preserve, protect, and mark the historic places of our Confederate ancestors.

If you would like more information about this organization you can visit: http://www.hqudc.org/