Runcie Club members travel back to reenact first meeting from over 130 years ago

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- As part of the membership meeting on Tuesday, April 21, the Runcie Club members took a step back in time.  

The program featured a reenactment of the club’s April 9, 1895 meeting, bringing a bit of history to life. 

Actresses and several club members were dressed in 1890s attire which added to the experience and the meeting will center around the theme of women authors.  

Caroline Merrigan, second vice president of the Runcie Club, said Constance Fauntleroy Runcie strongly believed women in St. Joseph deserved greater access to education.  

“In 1894, she founded the Runcie Club women’s organization in her own home to promote the literacy of women, appreciation, arts and music,” Merrigan said.  

The group chose to highlight that specific year because many of the club’s original meeting records are preserved at Missouri Western State University.  

After a librarian revisited the archived minutes—especially those from April 1894—they decided to build the program around that moment in time.  

“Mrs Runcie also gave programs about how electricity works, how do magnets work, what is the theory of evolution. She was also a scientist as well as an artist and a musician,” Merrigan said.  

Merrigan, who portrayed Mrs. Runcie in the reenactment, said the experience shows how enjoyable it can be to step into history and imagine life more than a century ago.  

“Mrs. Runcie was a genius and I wish we could get to own her in person right now. She was very versatile and well-educated,” Merrigan said.  

What resonates most with Merrigan is Runcie’s commitment to involving women in the community and expanding their educational opportunities—something she said remains central to the club’s mission today.