History
of
The Music Club of Kingsville


The Music Club of Kingsville was organized by Helen Chandler on May 24, 1931. Club members, as one of their first projects, led a successful campaign in 1932 to install a music program in the Kingsville Public Schools. Sixty years ago club members led by Helen Chandler, Isabel Scarborough and Jewell Cypher organized a Community. Concert Association in Kingsville. During World War II the club donated a piano to the USO and placed two memorial windows in the Veterans' Hospital Chapel in Houston. After the war the Music Club contributed several hundred copies of music and provided funds to buy parts for stringed instruments for war-torn countries.

In 1965 the club incorporated, and with monies donated by Mrs. B.C. Brookshire built a clubhouse, the Addie and B.C. Brookshire Music Club Building. Since that time, the clubhouse with its small recital hall, has served as a center for community music activities. In addition to offering its facilities for music programs, the Music Club permitted the Kleberg Public Library to lease its facilities in 1982 to offer films and educational programs for children.

The Music Club offers annual awards to Texas A&M-Kingsville and H.M. King high school music students. The club has organized several piano and choir festivals and has on numerous occasions underwritten the costs of bringing guest soloists and performing groups to Kingsville.

In 1981, for a special project to celebrate its Golden Anniversary, the Music Club organized the Kingsvillle Young Performers Competitons. The first competition attracted close to 100 entrants from the South Texas area, many of whom now have major music carreers. Since that time the Young Performers project, with help from TAMUK, The Kingsville Woman’s Club, the King Ranch, and many generous Kingsville organizations and concerned citizens, has expanded to become international in scope. The Music Club of Kingsville has consistently received the highest rating for federated music clubs in the United States as a result of its effort in sponsoring the Kingsville Competitions.



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