Voting: It’s Time
As we all make plans to vote in this year’s primary (early voting has started!), I am inspired by the women of Rochester who went to great lengths to get the first woman elected to public office in the city!
On March 14, 1911, Amelia Hatfield Witherstine became the first woman elected to public office in Rochester. Her success was driven by the strategies and persistence of women who organized, ultimately overcoming resistance to having a woman on the school board. Here’s how it happened
On January 6, 1911, school board member S.C. Furlow died, causing the board to appoint a replacement. Women from the Civic League, a relatively new women’s club led by Edith Graham Mayo, Hattie Damon Mayo, and other prominent women, promptly submitted a petition to the school board requesting that a woman be appointed. They argued that other progressive cities had already elected women with “very satisfactory results.” And they cleverly claimed that it had been an injustice to expect men to bear the burdens of social and civil life alone. They claimed that it was also an injustice to children because women are the most competent to promote social welfare and healthful and wholesome environments. Despite their thoughtful appeal, the school board appointed a man, C.E. Callagan, a recently retired postmaster.
This disappointing news spurred the women into action. They immediately began meeting to select a woman to run for the position at the next election in two months. There were actually three open positions on the ballot due to terms ending for two other board members. Initially, the Civic League considered putting a woman up for each of the vacancies, but they subsequently decided to endorse one woman for the at large position, allowing them to focus all their energies on electing that one woman.
Their decision to endorse Amelia Witherstine was met with approval. A local newspaper printed “the league could scarcely have made a better choice for a lady commissioner. Mrs. Witherstine is a woman of much common sense; her mind is analytical and her judgement is good. Tho progressive she is not a faddist. She is well educated, is splendid home-maker, and a brilliant club-woman.” In addition, Dr. W. W. Mayo, when hearing the action of the ladies, remarked, ‘Well, I am glad of it; there should be a woman on the board.”
According to a newspaper, the night of the Democratic Party caucus (school board positions were partisan in those days), “automobiles and carriages were put in commission from the time of the opening to the closing of the caucus, bringing as many ladies as possible to thwart any attempt at political chicanery known only to men.” She won the party endorsement with 298 votes. The most votes any man received for any of the open offices that night was 61.
Working on the election, wasn’t the only thing women of the Civic League doing, they were simultaneously battling a scarlet fever outbreak. Their club had hired a school nurse and they were attempting to abate the spread of the disease at the same time they were campaigning for Amelia.
Another interesting aspect of the local elections that year related to the race for mayor. Many members of the community encouraged Amelia’s husband, Dr. H.H. Witherstine, to run. He had previously been on the school board, mayor of Rochester, and state senator. He was well liked and had a good chance at winning, but the day after his wife was chosen by the Civic League as their preferred candidate for school board, Dr. Witherstine announced that he would not run for mayor.
On March 14, 1911, Amelia beat her opponent, Mr. Callaghan, the school boards’ interim appointee and Republican candidate, by 159 votes. Over 800 women went to the polls. She was elected President of the board after her first term and remained President until 1923 when she chose not to run for re-election. Other than Amelia, the board remained all men during those years and included Dr. Charlie Mayo initially.
During her twelve-year tenure, the population of Rochester doubled, causing the school district to basically double their facilities by renovating and constructing new buildings.
In addition, under Amelia’s leadership they
· started kindergarten,
· a school for the deaf,
· and a night school,
· and they creatively expanded security in the schools by deputizing the janitors.
They had ongoing challenges to balance the budget while under pressure to increase teacher salaries and decrease class sizes without increasing taxes. During this time the community was also challenged by the impacts of WWI, the influenza pandemic of 1918, and the overt presence of the Ku Klux Klan in town
Amelia Witherstine’s leadership was stellar. She also was among the first group of women to serve on a jury in Olmsted County, and the Civic League went on to create and support many public health and welfare initiatives spurring the men of the city to organize and begin working on city improvements as well.
Today, you can see Amelia Hatfield Witherstine in statue form at Central Park thanks to the leadership and fundraising efforts of Mayor Kim Norton – Rochester’s first woman mayor.
