Rainier Club

The Rainier Club is a private club in Seattle, Washington; Priscilla Long of HistoryLink.org calls it "Seattle's preeminent private club." Its clubhouse building, completed in 1904, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was founded in 1888 in what was then the Washington Territory (statehood came the following year). As of 2008, the club has 1,300 members. The Rainier Club was first proposed at a February 23, 1888 meeting of six Seattle civic leaders; it was formally incorporated July 25, 1888. The attendees of the original meeting were J. R. McDonald, president of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway; real estate developer and former Seattle mayor John Leary; Norman Kelly; R. C. Washburn, editor of the...