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Hillside Garden Club owes its modest beginnings to Mrs. Julia File and Mrs. Frances Dirom, two young garden-loving friends, who lived across the street from each other on Woodridge Place in Lynchburg and often took a rest time together under an oak tree in Frances’ yard. 

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One day in the mid 1930s, they invited a few friends to join them.  Today no one remembers who participated in those early gatherings, but the club’s first formal minutes, recorded in July of 1935, reflect a membership of twenty-five.  Today Hillside Garden Club has over 85 club members that contribute at the local and state level to fulfill its mission.