On December 26, 1894, a group of business and professional men met and agreed to form the Inquiry Club, which was to serve two purposes. One, to promote the cause of higher education; two, to encourage each other in intellectual pursuits. The group then drafted a constitution and by-laws and agreed to meet weekly at the home of one of the members. Membership was initially limited to twelve and later expanded to fifteen.

There were no prescribed qualifications for membership, but the club was typically composed of clergymen, lawyers, doctors, college professors, public school administrators, public officials, and businessmen.

The original by-laws stated that at each meeting at least one member “shall read a prayer, or deliver an address, not less than ten, nor more than sixty minutes in length, upon a subject chosen by himself.” Dr. Chester C. Maxey, former president of Whitman College, was a member for 58 years and stated that he presented “no fewer than forty papers” to the club.

Mr. W.H. Upton, a Superior Court judge, was elected the first president and Mr. H.S. Blandford, an attorney, the secretary. Other prominent original members, were Rev. Stephen B.L. Penrose, president of Whitman College from 1894 to 1934, and Whitman College professor Louis F. Anderson, who served on the faculty for over sixty years. The Inquiry Club is still active today.