Women in Nevada History

Interesting Facts
About Women In Nevada's History

The first woman Mayor in Nevada was Dorothy Porter, a former Ziegfeld Dancer. She was elected to a major city council in 1953, then was elected Mayor of North Las Vegas by her fellow council members the following years.

The first woman elected mayor of Reno was Barbara Bennett in 1979. She resigned in 1983 to accept a state position.

The first woman elected Mayor of Las Vegas was Jan Laverty Jones in 1990.

Dat-So-La-Lee - Born 184?. Died 1925. The women of the Washoe, Paiute, and Shoshone tribes were already here for thousands of years before the white women. One of the most famous of the Native American women was Dat-So-La-Lee. Dat-So-La-Lee was a Washoe Indian woman, who became nationally known for the quality of her basket making. It was said, "Her baskets were unsurpassed for their artistic conception and symbolical significance." You can see some of Dat-So-La-Lee's baskets at the Nevada Historical Society's website, (the basket in the top left corner of the home page is one of hers,) and also in the Genoa Courthouse Museum in Nevada's oldest town, Genoa.

Sarah Winnemucca - Born 1844. Died 17 October 1891. Sarah Winnemucca's birth coincided with the beginning of an era of dramatic historical changes for her people, changes in which she would play an important and often thankless role. She worked throughout her life to communicate between her people and the white people, to defend Paiute rights, and to create understanding.
In 1872, Sarah was with her people on the Malheur Reservation in Oregon where Indian Agent Samuel Parrish was treating everyone fairly. However, he was replaced with a less reliable agent, and as problems mounted on the reservations, Sarah prepared to travel to Washington, D.C. to speak out on behalf of her people, a trip that was interrupted while she aided U.S. troops in the Bannock war of 1878. Sarah offered her services to the Army as an interpreter and scout. She saved her father, whose lodge had been surrounded by hostile Indians, by traveling without sleep over 200 miles in 48 hours over treacherous Idaho terrain.
She also was dedicated to teaching school to Paiute children and opened a school for Indian children called "Peabody's Institute" near Lovelock, Nevada. When her husband, at that time Lt. L. H. Hopkins, died of tuberculosis and the school was closed, Sarah moved to Montana to spend her last days with her sister Elma, her sister. (From Nevada women's History Project).

Eilley Orum Bowers - Born 6 September 1826. Died 27 October 1903. Mining is what put Nevada on the map, and one of the most well-known women of mining was Eilley Orum Bowers, Orum being her maiden name. Eilley's tragic story is of rags to riches and back to rags. She and her husband Sandy built Bower's Mansion in Washoe Valley, which is now a county park. Tours are given of Eilley's home every weekend during the summer months.

Idah Meacham Strobridge - Born 9 June 1855. Died 8 February 1932. Idah was another pioneer who withstood great hardships to become a well-known Nevada author and bookbinder. After losing her three children and husband to various tragedies, she wrote: "Just a little flour, a piece of bacon, a handful of coffee, one’s blankets, enough clothing for comfort—that is all. When one stops to think of it, it is astonishing to find how little one really needs, to live. It is only after you have been on a rough trip of weeks, when it was needful that you should debate well and long over not every pound, but literally every ounce of extra weight that you were to carry—casting aside all things but those that were vital to your absolute needs—that you came to realize how much useless stuff one goes through life a-burdened with." (From "The Lessons of the Desert"). Her story gives courage to all women who have suffered great loss and tragedy in their lives.

Hannah Keziah Clapp - Born 1824. Died 1908. Hannah started a school of a different kind. Considered unusual and radical she opened a co-educational school. The school lasted 25 years. Ten years later, Hannah would again make history as a pioneer.
Hannah was widely known for a fence project at the Capitol building in Carson City. It was reported that she made a bid for the job contract, and when it was awarded to a H. K. Clapp it was unknown that H. K. was Hannah. Well this story has been bent, twisted and trampled so much . . . well, read all about it yourself here. The Hannah Clap Fence Story . . . Truth or Myth?
Hannah proved to be one of Nevada's outstanding pioneers. After the school the continued on to a higher level of education. When the University of Nevada was founded, there were only two instructors. Hannah Clap and President Brown.

Mrs. Beck, of Virginia City - was reportedly said to have worked twice as hard as any other woman, yet was constantly on the go, taking medicines, food or clothing to destitute families. She was known for contributing $600-700 a year from her own pocket, in addition to that which she was able to collect. It wasn't unheard of to find her sitting up nights repairing clothes for children.
Mrs. Beck has far more claim to the attention of certain writers, far more than the killers and blackguards that fill so many other pages in the history books, yet she and her kind are forgotten save for a casual mention here and there.

To be continued . . .