for 9,000 books. History Early history Eleanor Butler Sanders and five other prominent suffragists established the League for Political Education in 1894 to advocate for women's suffrage. The group held popular "town meetings" about social issues and had 600 members by 1899. The initial meetings were held in Sanders's house and attracted mainly women. Subsequent meetings attracted more men and were hosted in various venues around New York City, since the League had no dedicated clubhouse. The Economic Club and Civic Forum were both founded in 1907 as offshoots of the League for Political Education. In 1912, Anna Blakslee Bliss gave money to fund the construction of a dedicated clubhouse; her initial donation of $1,000 was followed the next year by a larger donation. Development Plans for a dedicated clubhouse for the League were first announced in 1914; the clubhouse would have been at 108–120 West 49th Street. The 49th Street clubhouse, which would likely have been designed by James E. Ware, was never built. The League's real estate committee then researched alternate sites before recommending the plots at 113–123 West 43rd Street, near Times Square. The committee recommended the site because of its proximity to transit. The plots were then purchased in 1917 for $425,000. At the time, Manhattan's theater district was in the process of shifting from Union Square and Madison Square to the vicinity of Times Square, with forty-three Broadway theaters being erected there from 1901 to 1920. The Societies Realty Corporation, which had been formed to construct the building, received a $300,000 loan for the site in 1918. That February, the League announced it would organize "a new club for men and women interested in civic problems", with a new clubhouse at 113 West 43rd Street. The plans for Town Hall were announced in April 1919. McKim, Mead & White had prepared plans for the building, which was expected to cost $500,000 and be completed by the next year. The structure was to house the League for Political Education, the Civic Forum, and the Economic Club. That July, Russell B. Smith began to raze the existing row houses. Work on Town Hall began on October 10, 1919. The League then scheduled a ceremony where Sanders's grand-niece Eleanor Butler Roosevelt would have laid the cornerstone. E. B. Roosevelt could not attend because she was sick, so her husband Theodore Roosevelt Jr. laid the cornerstone for Town Hall