The Wyoming House For Historic Women, also known as Wyoming Women's History House[1] is a museum in downtown Laramie, Wyoming, United States, which celebrates the achievements of 13 women from the state of Wyoming.[2] It was established by the Louisa Swain Foundation, which honors Louisa Swain, the first woman in the United States to vote in a general election. She cast her ballot on September 6, 1870, in Laramie, Wyoming.[3][4] The museum opened in 2012.[5] The Wyoming State Historical Society says Swain was "the first woman in the world to cast a ballot under laws giving women and men equal voting rights".[6]
The Johnson Lummis Hunkins Plaza is outside the Wyoming House for Historic Women. A statue of Louisa Swain in her honor was dedicated in the Johnson Lummis Hunkins Plaza in 2005. The statue is called "The Franchise", and was created by John D. Baker.[7][8]
The women
The women who form the subject matter of the museum are:[9]
- Louisa Gardner Swain, first woman in the United States to vote in a general election, 1870[3][4]
- Eliza Stewart, first woman in America selected to serve on a jury, 1870[10][11]
- Martha Symons Boies Atkinson, first female bailiff in the United States, 1870[12]
- Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney[13]
- Barbara Cubin, first woman to represent Wyoming in Congress, starting in 1995[14]
- Verda James, first woman to serve a full term as the Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives[15][16]
- Marilyn S. Kite, first female Chief Justice on the Wyoming Supreme Court, chosen in 2010[17]
- April Brimmer Kunz, first female President of the Wyoming Senate, starting in 2003 and ending in 2005[13][18]
- All Woman Council of Jackson, an all-woman city government (including town council and mayor, who in turn appointed women to town marshal, town clerk and treasurer), elected in 1920[19]
- Anna Edith Miller, first woman licensed as a nurse in Wyoming, licensed in 1909[13]
- Esther Hobart Morris, first female justice of the peace in the United States, 1870[20][21]
- Estelle Reel, first woman elected to Wyoming public office, as the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, elected in 1895[22]
- Nellie Tayloe Ross, Governor and first female Director of the U.S. Mint[13]