Who knew women’s right to vote would run through Charles City, Iowa?

The renovated home of Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, one of America's leaders in the women's suffrage movement.
The renovated home of Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, one of America’s leaders in the women’s suffrage movement.

The United States as a country is nearly 250 years old, but the struggle for civil rights remains a fairly young one for women and ethnic minorities. Women continue to fight for rights related to their bodies, employment and general overall welfare. You might think that in the 21st century we would be past that, but…

More than 100 years ago, women started fighting for the right to vote, as well as own property. Women have enjoyed the right to vote for only a century, following the passage of the 19th amendment to the US Constitution in 1920. The struggle for the women’s suffrage movement crossed northern Iowa, where a former school teacher embraced the role of movement leader in getting the 19th amendment passed, giving women the right to vote. In the end, it was a local woman who saved the story of Carrie Lane Chapman Catt from becoming another cornfield memory.

Born in Ripon, Wisconsin, Carrie Lane moved with her family to the North Iowa community of Charles City. The family operated a small farm a few miles southeast of town, raising crops, animals, and a small apple orchard.

The home's visitors center offers children an opportunity to dress like Carrie and others during her youth.
The home’s visitors center offers children an opportunity to dress like Carrie and others during her youth.

Socially aware at young age

It was 1872, as a 13-year-old, that she developed her interest in fair elections and treatment of people. One day, her father and fellow farmworkers prepared to go to town to cast their votes in an election. She asked her mother why she wasn’t going along to vote. The men laughed.

“Voting is too important to leave to women,” Lucius Lane supposedly answered. It was that conversation that would guide her on her life’s mission.

Once she completed high school, she had to work to save money to attend college in Ames, at what is now Iowa State University. Her freshman class included only a few women, as it wasn’t common for women to attend college. In the end, she was the lone woman in her graduating class of fewer than 20 people.

Her childhood home tells the story of Carrie through a series of timelines and photographs researched and organized by a group of students from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. But, first, people needed to fix a rotting old farmhouse that almost was demolished to make way for another cornfield.

Community rallies to save home

Rhoda McCartney, who grew up less than 10 miles from the Lane home, learned the property was on the market and rallied local business and civic leaders to raise enough money to buy it. Once that was done, the house continued to deteriorate until enough money had been raised by the newly formed 19th Amendment Society.

Volunteers removed each brick from the house’s façade, numbering them for later use. Then, they worked to renovate the Victorian-era house, recreating the Carrie Lane Chapman Catt’s childhood home. The bricks were later placed in their original spots and the house was once again sustainable.

Inside the house, the UNI students created the timelines using facts about Chapman Catt’s life, such as her two marriages, family life, and world events.

Carrie Lane Chapman Catt.
Carrie Lane Chapman Catt.

Speaking of marriages, Carrie Lane married local journalist Leo Chapman. He died in California, moving there ahead of his wife. She later married George Catt, with the stipulation that she would continue to spend time working with the suffrage movement. George Catt also died at a young age. Carrie suffered several family losses within a decade, sending her into a bit of depression. She stepped away from the suffrage drive for a while.

Chapman Catt aggressively campaigned for women’s right to vote. She visited 20 states and spoke at 15 political conventions in 1899, traveling more than 12,000 miles. Imagine what the roads and rail systems were like back then.

Led campaign for voting rights

Known for her consensus-building skills, Susan B. Anthony asked Chapman Catt to lead the National American Women’s Suffrage Association in 1900. As the organization’s president, she pushed for the passage of the 19th amendment. At the time, it took 36 states to ratify an amendment to the constitution. Chapman Catt visited every state legislature to persuade state leaders to pass the amendment. In the end, Tennessee became the 36th state – and the only southern state – to approve the amendment. Approved Aug. 26, a Greely County voter cast a ballot in a school election the next day, becoming the first woman in Iowa – and possibly the first American woman – to legally vote in an election.

Chapman Catt founded the League of Women Voters, a non-partisan organization originally tasked with helping women with their new voting responsibilities. It continues to address issues involving voting.

Today, as visitors stroll through the childhood home, check out photos and exhibits at the visitors center or walk the farm’s grounds, including an apple orchard, Chapman Catt’s story continues to be shared and the history of a young girl from North Iowa lives on.

We would like to thank the President of the 19th Amendment Society, Cheryl Erb for her time in giving us a tour of the Carrie Lane Chapman Catt home.

For more information on the Carrie Lane Chapman Catt childhood home, please visit www.catt.org.