The Highland Park Community House is a non-profit organization governed by a Board of Governors, volunteers who maintain the legacy of the Community House to support and enhance Highland Park’s intellectual and cultural life.
The Highland Park Community House began in 1924 as the Highland Park Woman’s Club. Designed by the prominent architect Arthur Brown as a clubhouse for the organization, the magnificent red brick Colonial-Revival home was an architectural and philanthropic accomplishment.
The Community House is part of the very fabric of Highland Park’s history. The Highland Park Woman’s Club, founded in 1899, opened the doors to what is now the Community House in 1924 and used the facility for their meetings and programs. Among their many accomplishments, the Woman’s Club established the first public library in Highland Park securing a grant from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, conducted blood drives during World War II, supported civic improvements and social agencies, provided relief during a typhoid epidemic and built a strong tradition of community philanthropy.
We are the community house and home for the residents of Highland Park. We provide, maintain and manage our community center for public and private programs, special events, as well as educational and cultural programs for all ages. We are proud of our heritage as a charitable, cultural and educational resource for the community. And we are honored to remain the heart of the Highland Park Community and the steward of its priceless legacy – the Community House.
It is the mission of the Highland Park Community House to provide a volunteer, citizen-led, self-sustaining, civic and cultural center that is home for a diverse array of programs, events and functions both public and private, while preserving a historically significant building.