The Florence Museum began with the Florence chapter of the National League for Women?s Service. The organization was established during World War I and it operated the Blue Bird Tea Room, a kitchen and dining room. The proceeds were used as funds to assist the American Red Cross this historic period. At the end of the war, the tea room closed and the remaining funds were put aside for a worthwhile project.

In 1924, Miss Jane Beverly Evans visited Phoenix, Arizona and found out that a Museum in Santa Fe was willing to sell Native American pottery from its collection to another museum. However, the Museum refused to sell the precious collection to Miss Jane Evans because there was no museum in Florence. Miss Evans immediately contacted the Blue Bird Tea Room group and asked them to organize a museum and direct the remaining funds from the tea room to her so that she could purchase the said Native American pottery, which will soon become the first collection of the Florence Museum.