Photo – Nellie Taylor Ross Wyoming’s and the Nation’s first woman Governor 1926 – Courtesy wyohistory.org
Today is Nellie Taylor Ross Day. Seldom celebrated, it is the anniversary of the birthday of the nation’s first woman governor. Nellie was born November 29, 1876.
Taylor-Ross only served two years as Wyoming’s Governor. From January 1925 to January 1927, she was elected to fill in for the remainder of her husband’s term. William Ross died in office on October 2, 1924 after serving since January 1, 1923. Both of the Ross’s were Democrats.
After William died, Republican Frank Lucas, Secretary of State, served as Governor until Nellie Taylor-Ross was elected in a special election to fill the remainder of the term. The two-year stint made her the first woman Governor in the United States.
Taylor-Ross would tell reporters at the time, “I had not realized that the people over the country were so interested in me, or the situation in which destiny has placed me.”
During her two-year term, Taylor-Ross pushed for tax cuts, support for farmers, and labor protection. Neither her ambition nor her incumbency would keep her in office. He term was short. She did run for re-election in 1926. The campaign poster was odd, “The woman who made good”, the poster read with a photograph of her wearing a long string of pearls and a wide brim hat.
Photo – Poster for Nellie Taylor-Ross’s re-election – Courtesy wyohistory.org
Wyoming voters went a different way. The state’s newspaper editors didn’t like her much at all. The press attacker her, saying she hadn’t lowered taxes much and her accomplishments were minor. One Republican newspaper publisher’s wife charged the print that Nellie failed to appoint a single woman to any office previously held by men.
She campaigned for a full term from a big Packard. At the wheel was Wilson Kimball, who was running for Secretary of State, also as a Democrat. She was a political curiosity and drew large crowds where ever she went. It wasn’t enough, though. She lost. Perhaps her support of prohibition could be the reason. The Republicans took all five top elected offices in the state. Taylor-Ross’s was the closest of these races. She lost by only 1,365 votes out of about 70,000 cast. She was beat by Republican Frank Emerson.
In 1923, Governor William Ross removed Emerson from the state engineer’s post. Emerson sued, and after a ten month court fight, he was re-instated. His revenge tour continued by defeating Wyoming’s first woman Governor, the widow of his political foe.
Emerson was re-elected in 1930 and served until his death the following year. Ross, meanwhile, lived a long life.
She served as the Director of the US Mint from 1933 to 1953. President Franklin D Roosevelt handpicked her for the Director’s job. Ross served for five terms as Director, before retiring.
During her later years, she wrote for various magazines and traveled. She died in Washington, DC at the age of 101. She is interred in the family plot in Lakeview Cemetery in Cheyenne.
Photo – Nellie Taylor-Ross at her 100th birthday. 1976 – Courtesy wyohistory.org
