In 1891, in Athens, Georgia, the Ladies Garden Club of Athens became the first garden club in America. From that first club, garden clubs sprang up across the country and eventually joined together to create state federations. In 1929, thirteen of these state federations formed a national organization which is now called National Garden Clubs, Inc.
The Garden Club of Phoenix was formed in 1924. By 1934, ten Arizona garden clubs joined together to form Arizona Federation of Garden Clubs. In 1935, a group of Arizona garden club members, headed by the first president, Iva Corpstein, traveled to Los Angeles to attend the fifth annual convention of garden clubs and was welcomed into the National Garden Clubs organization. By 1935, 36 states had become members of NGC. Hawaii joined NGC in 1972, making all fifty states members of NGC.
(Compiled from information written by Mary Cochran)
