Patsy Brown Takes The Reins
by Charles C. Bonniwell
The 114-year-old University Club of Denver elected its first female president Patsy Brown, a broker associate with Kentwood Real Estate-Cherry Creek. Founded in 1891, the Club was based on the Athenaeum Club in London and the University Club of New York and required having a degree from a university, college or similar institution of higher learning which was not common in the 19th century. Of course, there have always been exceptions.
One of its earliest members was Henry Wolcott who helped found the Denver Club and the Denver Country Club. He was one of the most powerful businessmen and politicians in Colorado in the 1890s but never even graduated from high school. An honorary degree from a local college was arranged to meet the degree requirement.
The Club’s present home at 1673 Sherman Street is a neo-classical mansion that was built in 1895 in what was then a residential neighborhood of Capitol Hill. Major additions were added in 1923, 1957 and 1980. Today it is part of upper downtown abutting the towering Lincoln Center Office Building. The mansion has eight banquet rooms including the famous College Room ballroom designed by Temple Buell with stained glass windows containing painted glass medallions of college shields. The facilities make it a unique destination for weddings, holiday parties, dinners and other events.
The mansion also contains a fitness area, billiard tables as well as singles and doubles squash courts along with a reading library. Members also have access to over 100 reciprocal clubs both in the United States and abroad.
The University Club of Denver is probably best known for its annual Twelfth Night celebration going back over 100 years. The event is often attended by many of Colorado’s best known politicians. The musical revue lampoons the top events and individuals both locally and nationally.
Brown’s election to the Club’s presidency represents the culmination of over a
half century battle over female membership. The University Club was founded as an all male institution and seen in part like a fraternity for adult men. The concept of accepting female members was first raised in the early 1940s when World War II cut membership by two-thirds.
By the late 1980s, based on a United States Supreme Court ruling, the government of the City and County of Denver threatened to revoke city licenses, including the Club’s liquor license, unless women were admitted and the dispute made the local news. After various votes which failed to amend the bylaws to admit women, a vote of 374 to 26 was taken to approve the change in the membership requirements from “a man” to “a person” effective January 1, 1991.
The Club just established a new membership category for individuals who have been members for 50 years or more and there are 25 such individuals. Today approximately 25 percent of the members are female along with, of course, wives of male members.
One of those longtime members stated, “Having a coed club is neither better nor worse than an all male one, just different. For me some of the camaraderie and uproarious fun has been lost but there has been a great civilizing effect by mixing the sexes in membership and that makes going to the club on an everyday basis far more enjoyable.”
The new president joined the University Club in 2004. A Denver native, she went to Kent School for Girls after attending Morey Middle School and then on to the University of Colorado at Boulder. She married and moved to the small town of Eldora, Illinois, where her husband was a bank president and she taught at local public and private schools which she thoroughly enjoyed. Moving back to Colorado at the start of the century she decided to go into the real estate field.
As president of the University Club, she notes that one of her main goals is to get the word out about the Club so that it isn’t necessarily the best kept secret in Denver. She loves showing off the Club to people who may have never heard about it. When she asks members what they like best about the University Club they note it is a place for friends to meet and socialize. They tell her that it is a chance to mix and mingle with distinguished individuals from all different fields of endeavor and all different ages. She adds that the Club seems to attract by nature individuals who are witty and fun.
Individuals interested in inquiring about possible membership in the University Club can go to the Club’s website www. uclubdenver.org.