131 South Main Street – Women’s Club - Lena Culver Hawkins

A Firebrand in High Heels

Let us look back at one of the very remarkable women who shaped Brooksville, and some would say, turned it on its head with her energy and drive. We’re talking about Lena Culver Hawkins. She was a pint-sized powerhouse who stood five feet tall but cast a giant shadow as Brooksville’s first female mayor and a tireless champion for progress. 

Born on September 23, 1866, in Laurence, Michigan, Lena was the second of five children to Anson Brewster Culver and Emma Spooner Hand, with roots tracing back to John Alden of the Mayflower. She married Charles Edwin Hawkins in 1891 in Chicago, and after welcoming their son, Allan, in 1893, the family bounced from Chicago to Manhattan before settling in Brooksville in 1911. From the moment she arrived, Lena hit the ground running, joining 22 organizations and taking leadership roles in most. Known for her high-heeled shoes and unstoppable spirit, she teamed up with reformer Margaret Dreier Robins to establish a local YWCA, the first free lending library in Hernando County, and a secretarial college for women. As president of the GFWC Historic Brooksville Woman’s Club from 1917 to 1923, she didn’t just lead—she designed and oversaw the construction of the club’s building on land secured in the 1920s, turning it into a garden that grew sweet potatoes to fund the project.

Lena’s biggest splash came in 1928 when she ran for Mayor of Brooksville, becoming one of Florida’s first female mayors and among the earliest in the United States. After losing by 34 votes in 1927, she ran unopposed in ’28, campaigning to make Brooksville the “prettiest town in Florida.” Her administration planted trees and flowers, improved paving, sewers, and water connections, and even took a wild approach to tourism by suspending traffic laws for a week, handing out citrus fruits instead of tickets! The Miami Herald praised her, saying her success was “a token of her own great worth and of the advancing of political light into some of the darker political corners of Florida.” Though she lost re-election in 1929 to former Mayor Charles Price, Lena’s vision for a beautiful Brooksville took root.

Her influence stretched far beyond City Hall. As secretary of the Florida Federation of Women’s Clubs for 20 years and a member of the Good Roads Committee, Lena pushed for better infrastructure across the state. She served as associate editor of the Brooksville Argus in 1915, recording secretary for the Florida Equal Suffrage Association in 1919, and president of the Hernando County Hospital auxiliary. She even led a record-breaking fundraiser for the Brooksville Chamber of Commerce, raising over $25,000 in 30 minutes during the Great Depression—an amazing feat! Lena was a suffragist with the National American Woman Suffrage Association and spoke at events, such as the Florida League of Women Voters in 1922, advocating for women's participation in industry and civic life.

Lena lived at 512 E Liberty Street in the Hawkins House, now home to two women-owned businesses—Mallie Kyla’s Café and Westover Flowers. She passed away there on June 6, 1949, at age 82, and rests in Brooksville Cemetery alongside her husband, Charles, and son, Allan. In 2000, she was named a Great Floridian, with a plaque outside her home honoring her legacy. In 2021, a group of local planters called themselves “Lena Lives” in her honor, keeping her spirit of beautification alive.

Standing here, you can almost see Lena in her high heels, rallying folks to plant trees or fund a library. She was a “natural leader,” as Alfred McKethan said, and her work made Brooksville bloom. 

Citations 

Brooksville Woman’s Club Celebrates Women’s History Month, Hernando Sun, March 20, 2022, https://www.hernandosun.com[](https://www.hernandosun.com/2022/03/20/brooksville-womans-club-celebrates-womens-history-month/)

3 Women-Owned Businesses Now Call Brooksville’s Historic Hawkins House Home, ABC Action News, July 1, 2021, https://www.abcactionnews.com[](https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-citrus-hernando/3-women-owned-businesses-now-call-brooksvilles-historic-hawkins-house-home)

Biographical Sketch of Lena Culver Hawkins, Alexander Street Documents, https://documents.alexanderstreet.com[](https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1010940164)

Local Women Leading the Way Project Recognized Nationally, Hernando Sun, March 22, 2021, https://www.hernandosun.com[](https://www.hernandosun.com/2021/03/22/local-women-leading-way-project-recognized-nationally/)