Boulder Republican Women History

Republican women have been organized and actively supporting Republican causes since 1935, before both the Colorado and National Federations of Republican Women were formed. The first club, Boulder Women’s Republican Club (BWRC), became a charter state and national member when the federations were formed. Dues were fifty cents in 1939, with ten cents going to the state and federal federations.

As membership grew and with meetings held in members’ homes, other Republican women’s clubs were organized and continued to provide programs of political and Republican education, initiating and sponsoring events that brought Republicans together. It was the Republican Women who started the Lincoln Day Dinner, which began as a summer picnic and grew to as many as 500 attending during the 1960’s.

The South Boulder Women’s Republican Club and the North Boulder Women’s Republican club were both founded in 1958, when the BWRC already had over 100 members. The north and south groups consolidated and the name was changed to the Morning Forum of Republican Women in 1961. Then in 1985 the name was changed to Boulder Forum of Republican Women (BFRW). For many years with membership as high as 100, BFRW was one of the largest clubs in Colorado. In February 2006, the BWRC and the BFRW voted to join together and form a stronger single Republican Women’s club for the Boulder area. With new bylaws, Boulder Republican Women (BRW) will continue to be recognized by both the CFRW and NFRW.

There are several awards given at the state and national levels for which the Boulder clubs have been frequent recipients: NFRW Achievement Award, Ruth Parks Award, Mary Lane Award, and Communication and Fundraising Awards.

Special Projects of the clubs have included the Mamie Eisenhower Library Project, giving books to schools and the People’s Clinic; the NFRW Dictionary Project, providing dictionaries to 6th and 7th graders; high school scholarships; as well as the Lincoln Day Dinner.

With a rich history in the state, Republican women from Boulder have served as officers at the state and national levels in the federation. In 1996 a BWRC member was elected at age 21 to the CU Board of Regents.

CFRW has 45 local chapters and a membership over 2000. NFRW is the largest women’s political organization in the U.S. with more than 120,350 members in approximately 3000 clubs in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and the Virgin Islands.