Portuguese residents that lived in Newark gathered and discussed starting a club that would allow friends of the Portuguese people of Newark to meet at a facility not only to get to know one another better, but also to take time to honor and also dignify the Portuguese that lived in the United States. The first of their meeting was held to discuss the formation of their idea. At their first meetin
g there was approximately twenty-eight Portuguese present. After a year of meetings and careful planning, the Portuguese club was officially opened on seventeenth day of December 1921. The incorporation became official a little more than a year later on April sixth, 1922. The club originally started out as a theater with a sports section plus an Orchestra which was composed with several elements. Approximately two-hundred of the Portuguese immigrants, the majority consisted of men, were all members within the Sports Club Portuguese (SCP) at that time. Almost all of the Portuguese residents living in Newark were members of the Sports Club Portuguese. Interestingly, because there were few Portuguese women in Newark during that time, at times the ladies roles in the theater group at the Sports Club Portuguese were played by men.
