Organized in 1892, the Lincoln Republican Club was formed, according to their constitution,“to advocate, promote and maintain the principles of Republicanism as enunciated by the Republican Party; to interest in politics those who have hitherto been indifferent to their political duties; to encourage attendance at primary meetings, that honest and capable men be nominated; to guard and defend the purity of the ballot box; to promote the cause of good government and to perform such other work as may best conserve the interests of the Republican Party.” The club’s constitution provided that Abraham Lincoln’s birthday should be commemorated with a banquet every year. The first was held on February 10, 1893, in Lockerby Hall.

Major C.W. Watkins, one of the charter members of the Lincoln Club, and its first president, is credited with the club’s name. The members were made up of local Kent County Republican Party workers and gradually increased until it comprised a large portion of the Republican Party workers in Western Michigan. Dues were set at $1.00 per year and all interested men over the age of 18 were eligible for membership.

The Young Men’s Republican Club began in 1894 and they met in the Lincoln Club’s room. Their stated purpose was “to interest young men in politics and to obtain a better appreciation of the political duties and responsibilities of citizenship; to encourage attendance at the primary meetings, and to secure the enactment and enforcement of the laws to insure the purity of the primaries, and to promote and maintain the principles of good government advocated by the Republican Party.” The Young Men’s Republican Club held their own Lincoln Day Banquets, the first at the Sweet’s Hotel in 1895, until 1899 when the two organizations sponsored one annual banquet. In 1920 the two organizations formally merged.

The banquet speakers included all but one Republican Michigan governor, Kim Sigler, many foreign ambassadors, U.S. senators, cabinet officers, in addition to former and future presidents and vice presidents. Attendance at Lincoln Day Banquets numbered, on average, 1500. Until the newly built Coliseum opened in 1911, no venue could accommodate that number. Many who wished to attend had to come in after the meal was served and stand along the perimeter. The 1911 Lincoln Day Banquet was the Coliseum’s inaugural event and it was held there for many years afterward.

Notably, Booker T. Washington spoke in 1912 and, until 1916, when members of the Equal Franchise Club were invited to attend, women had only been allowed at the event as waitresses or to watch from the balcony. The first woman to speak at the banquet was Harriet E. Vittum, the Head Resident of the Northwestern University Settlement and Mrs. John W.(Minnie C.) Blodgett was the first female toastmaster in 1921.

It is unclear when the Lincoln Republican Club dissolved or became part of another Republican organization. Lincoln Day Banquets continued in Grand Rapids into the 1960s but were organized by other Kent County Republican groups.