Every public service position that is currently held by a woman in the United States was once held by a man. It wasn’t until brave women throughout the country began changing the status quo and believing that they, too, could be leaders in their communities that this changed.

From Laura Eisenhuth, the first female elected to statewide executive office in 1892, to Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice, these women aimed for something that society was telling them was impossible, just because they were women. Because of courageous women like them, every young girl in the United States can now see herself becoming an American hero. In this three-part series, WPLN will be showcasing several ‘Famous Firsts’—women who were able to shatter society’s norms and change women’s representation in America, forever. 

Many women throughout American history got their start participating in politics at the local and community-centered level. In some ways, these arenas are often the most intense, but these women broke down the barriers within their own communities to represent the women and men they knew personally... 

Susanna Madora Salter was the first female mayor in the United States and one of the first women elected to any political office in the entire country. Only weeks after women received the right to vote in Kansas city elections, Salter was nominated to be mayor in Argonia, Kansas as a prank by a group of men who hoped securing a loss of a woman would both humiliate and discourage women from running for office. Despite their best efforts, in April of 1887, Salter won two-thirds of the votes. She knew more about politics than her nominators believed, being the daughter-in-law of the town’s first mayor, Melville J. Salter. Although her term was uneventful, this 27-year-old woman’s service as mayor continues to open doors for women running in local elections.

Laura Eisenhuth was one woman who benefited from Salter’s term. Eisenhuth, however, was the first woman in the United States to win an election for State office. Women in her state of North Dakota were only permitted to vote on matters involving schools. So the superintendent position was the only election they could participate in. Thanks to the women of North Dakota, Eisenhuth was elected North Dakota’s superintendent of public instruction in 1892. She emphasized professional development for teachers throughout her term and paved the way for women throughout other western states, including two other women, Antoinette Peavey in Colorado and Estelle Reel in Wyoming,  who were elected into the superintendent role not long after her term. Eisenhuth was defeated by another woman in 1894, but she left her mark on state elections.

Clara Cressingham, Carrie C. Holly, and Frances Klock were the nation’s first female legislators to serve in Colorado. They were all elected in 1895, creating a wave of women within the Colorado legislature. Colorado was also the first state to give women the right to vote in 1893. All three women achieved great things while in office: Holly earned the accolade of being the first woman to introduce legislation, while Klock became the first woman to chair a committee, and Cressingham was the first to have a leadership role as secretary of the Republican caucus. These women opened the doors for the 2,145 women that currently serve in the 50 state legislatures of the United States.

These trailblazers created true change for women throughout the country. Although a truly representative democracy in our local politics has yet to become a reality, these women’s achievements help make it more of a reality than before. In the next post in this series, we’ll look at a few more women who shattered glass ceilings in their states.