Union Club of Boston

The Union Club of Boston, founded in 1863, is one of the oldest gentlemen's clubs in the United States. It is located on Beacon Hill, adjacent to the Massachusetts State House. The clubhouse at No. 8 Park Street overlooks the Boston Common, and has views of the Common itself, Boston's historic Back Bay, and the hills to the city's west.

The Union Club was formed by members of another prominent Boston gentlemen's club, the Somerset Club, after disagreement over support (or lack thereof) for the Union cause during the American Civil War. During the Civil War, members of the Somerset Club split along political lines. In response, Somerset defectors formed the Union Club, which demanded “unqualified loyalty to the constitution and the Union of our United States, and unwavering support of the Federal Government in effort for the suppression of the rebellion.”

From its inception, The Union Club of Boston has been characterized by forward thinking.  Our founding members didn't restrict themselves to a single political party, but drew in all those willing to support the Union Cause in the Civil War: Republicans, Democrats, and Abolitionists alike.  The Union Club of Boston became the first male club in the city to welcome women as members, years before such equity was the norm.

Today the Union Club members are forging new traditions in the spirit of these values.  The Union Club offers an impressive array of social events, food tastings, music, unique speakers and more to satiate the palate, social and professional interests and intellectual curiosity of our membership.

Former members

President of the United States

Calvin Coolidge, Republican (1923-1929)

Vice-President of the United States

Henry Wilson, Republican (1873-1875) served Ulysses S. Grant

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

Frederick Huntington Gillett, Republican (1919-1925)

United States Senators

Charles Sumner, Free Soil, Liberal Republican, Republican (1851-1874)

Edward Everett, Whig (1853-1854)

Henry Wilson, Republican (1855-1873)

George Frisbie Hoar, Republican (1877-1904)

Henry Cabot Lodge, Republican (1893-1924)

Winthrop Murray Crane, Republican (1904-1913)

Frederick Huntington Gillett, Republican (1925-1931)

Sinclair Weeks, Republican (1944)

United States Supreme Court

Horace Gray (1881-1902)

Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1916-1939)

Governors of Massachusetts

Edward Everett, Whig (1836-1846)

Emory Washburn, Whig (1854-1855)

John Albion Andrew, Republican (1861-1866)

Alexander Hamilton Bullock, Republican (1866-1869)

William Claflin, Republican (1869-1872)

William Gaston, Democrat (1875-1876)

Alexander Hamilton Rice, Republican (1876-1879)

John Davis Long, Republican (1880-1883)

Benjamin Franklin Butler, Democrat (1883-1884)

William Eustis Russell, Democrat (1891-1894)

Roger Wolcott, Republican (1896-1900)

Winthrop Murray Crane, Republican (1900-1903)

Curtis Guild, Jr., Republican (1906-1909)

Eben Sumner Draper, Republican (1909-1911)

Samuel Walker McCall, Republican (1916-1919)

Calvin Coolidge, Republican (1919-1921)

Channing Harris Cox, Republican (1921-1925)

Frank G. Allen, Republican (1929-1931)

Joseph Buell Ely, Democrat (1931-1935)

Presidents of Harvard University

Josiah Quincy (1829-1846)

Edward Everett (1846-1849)

Jared Sparks (1849-1853)

Presidents of Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Willian Barton Rogers (1862-1870)

Francis Amasa Walker (1881-1897)

Karl Taylor Compton (1930-1948)

James Rhyne Killian, Jr. (1948-1959)

Men of Letters, Authors, Poets, Scholars, etc.

Charles Francis Adams, Jr. – Author and Historian

Louis Agassiz -  Biologist, Geologist and Natural History Scholar

Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, - Abolitionist

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., - Author

Charles Deven, Jr. - General

Ralph Waldo Emerson – Poet

John Murray Forbes – Merchant, Philanthropist and Abolitionist

Asa Gray – Botanist

Edward Everett Hale – Theologian

Henry Lee Higginson – Founder of Boston Symphony Orchestra

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. – Poet, Novelist and Physician

James Russel Lowell – Poet

Charles Eliot Norton – Man of Letters and Editor

Francis Parkman – Historian

Josiah Quincy, IV – Mayor of Boston

Charles Storer Storrow, Civil Engineer and Industrialist

William Fiske Whitney – Anatomist, Curator and Pathologist

See also

Coordinates: 42°21′27.5″N 71°3′45.8″W / 42.357639°N 71.062722°W / 42.357639; -71.062722

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