In the 19th century, Women's Exchanges formed a national network that created economic alternatives for financially vulnerable women in a world that permitted limited employment options.
Women's Exchanges are one of the nation's oldest continuously operating voluntary movements. Many are still in business after more than a century.
The Women's Exchange took root in Michigan in Detroit during the 1880's.
Current State's Peter Whorf talks with Northville writer Michele Fecht, who recently told the story of the movement in her Michigan History Magazine article "The Women's Exchange of Detroit."
