It's 3 p.m. on a windy afternoon, and Jina Villa is serving drinks inside an old brick building in front of the train tracks on Fountain Street. Villa, of Framingham (MA), is among 20 or so people who were recently sworn in as new members of the city's century-old Columbus Club.

But there's something different — groundbreaking, even — about this most recent set of new members: All are women. The women were sworn in last month after bylaws were changed to allow them to become part of the Columbus Club's society, as opposed to just being a part of the social club.