The oldest women's book club in the Greater Fort Lauderdale area, Bookfellows has been in existence for over 60 years. It was established in 1944 with fifteen members who met in members' homes. Bookfellows now boasts over 75 members and, since 1995, the luncheon reviews have been held at the Riverside.

Bookfellows of Fort Lauderdale was founded in December of 1944 as a voluntary association organized by a committee of 15 women headed by Mrs. William Sherwood as general chairman. Bookfellows invited "anyone in Fort Lauderdale who is interested in books" to attend their first meeting on December 19, 1944. It was decided that the meetings would be held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month during the winter season. The Governing Committee is composed of 12 members - all of whom are members for life.

Thus successfully launched, four more luncheon meetings were held that winter plus a night meeting in the high school auditorium at which the featured speaker was Philip Wylie. The net proceeds of these meetings were given to Miss Dorothy Darrow, city librarian, to buy books for the library.

During 1948 the Bookfellows became interested in the Youth Center building at the old Coast Guard base on the beach. They furnished and equipped the library and reading room and started it out with a substantial stock of books. During the same year and during practically every year since, the Bookfellows have made substantial gifts to the city for the purpose of buying books for the Public Library.

In 1949 the bookfellows secured the services of Mrs. Earl (Pauline) Watkins of Hollywood who served efficiently in the capacity of reviewer through 1964. The club's annual contribution to buy reference books, etc. was amended in 1949 to include a list of current fiction and non-fiction. A total of $7,000.00 was donated to the Library for the years of 1992 to 1994. In April of 1998, Bookfellows gave the Broward Public Library Foundation $2,500.00 to be used for the new library that was being built on Sistrunk Boulevard. A book is always presented to the Library in memory of a deceased member of the Board of Directors of Bookfellows.

Times have changed since the Bookfellows organized, but the limit of 150 in membership has carried on and will probably continue.

Bookfellows is a charitable organization with profits of the organization being contributed to local libraries.

It was hard to find a large-enough place for meetings back in the beginning. On one occasion a caterer was hired to pack 150 box lunches, chairs were rented and the meeting was held at the home of Mrs. J. L. B. (Daisy) Weber. Over the past 60 years, Bookfellows has had to change its meeting place. "The Reef" was one of the more popular locations and then the "Anna Capri" was our home until the building was torn down and we had to search for new accommodations. Finding a suitable place with a room large enough for lunch and a book review with available parking proved to be quite a challenge. We were very lucky when we found the Riverside Hotel. We have been meeting there since 1995.