11 Female historical females with strong ties to Colorado

Given that Colorado was one of the first U.S. states to grant women the right to vote, it’s not surprising that many extraordinary women, including businesswomen, athletes, and prominent suffragettes, have called Colorado home.

In honor of International Women’s Day, here’s a look at some women who had a big impact on Colorado’s history:

1. Frances Wisebart Jacobs

During the mid-19th century, Frances Wisebart Jacobs worked in Denver’s tent cities taking care of poor tuberculosis patients and bringing people food and soap, according to the Molly Brown House Museum. She also worked on better working conditions for working women, demanding things like eight-hour work days, improved housing, and reforming the public employment office. The Molly Brown House Museum also writes that her efforts established Denver’s first free kindergarten, a charity organization now known as United Way of America, and the National Jewish Health Center.

2. Florence Sabin

Born in Central City, Colorado, Sabin was among 16 women accepted at John Hopkins University Medical School in 1893. According to the Molly Brown House Museum, she became the first full-time female professor at any medical school in the country. Sabin retired in Colorado in 1938, and Governor Vivian of Colorado asked her to help reform Colorado’s failing healthcare system. Sabin cut the tuberculosis death rate in half after two years leading the State Health Committee. She then worked as Denver’s Manager of Health and Charities until she died in 1953.

3. Amache Ochinee Prowers

Prowers was a Cheyenne woman whose father was killed at the Sand Creek Massacre, according to the National Park Service (NPS). After the Civil War, she and her husband John Prowers pioneered the cattle industry in Southeastern Colorado. Prowers served as a mediator, bridging the various cultures that settled in Southeast Colorado.

4. Julia Archibald Holmes

Born in 1838 in Nova Scotia, Julia Archibald Holmes moved to the U.S. in 1848. According to the NPS, she traveled the Santa Fe Trail, and when she reached Colorado became the first recorded European-American woman to climb Pikes Peak. After the Civil War, Holmes moved to Washington D.C., and became the first female member of the United States Board of Education and also worked as a secretary for the National Woman Suffrage Association. She helped foster suffrage associations, organize female clerks, and participated as a delegate at the National Woman Suffrage Association convention.

5. Eliza Pickrell Routt

According to the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, Routt was the first woman registered to vote in the Centennial State. Married to John Routt, Colorado’s first State Governor, Routt “set the standard for Colorado’s first ladies and the state’s newly enfranchised women by performing community and public service without fanfare or pretense.” She joined the Non-Partisan Suffrage Association of Colorado and served as president of the City League of Denver branch.

6. Hattie McDaniel

Hattie McDaniel was the first African American to win an Oscar for her supporting role as Mammy in the film Gone With the Wind, according to the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame. McDaniel grew up in Denver. Her parents were Susan Holbert and Henry McDaniel, an ex-slave and Civil War veteran. She appeared in more than 300 films and her own radio series, Beulah.

7. Madeleine Albright

According to the Office of the Historian, Madeleine Albright made history when she was sworn in as the first female secretary of state in 1997, becoming the highest-ranking woman in the U.S. government at the time. Albright was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and immigrated to Denver in 1948. Albright promoted the expansion of NATO eastward into the former Soviet bloc nations, supported ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, and helped normalize U.S. relations with Vietnam.

8. Mildred ‘Babe’ Didrikson Zaharias

Nicknamed after baseball legend Babe Ruth, Didrikson was an Olympic gold medalist and accomplished multisport athlete. According to the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, Didrikson “played in sports that were traditionally considered to be the male’s domain and refused to conform to the ladylike image required of female athletes.” Didrikson held American, Olympic, or world records in five different track and field events from 1930 to 1932. She won two gold medals and a silver medal and set a world record in the 1932 Olympics.

Later, Didrikson became interested in golf. She married professional wrestler George Zaharias from Pueblo, Colorado in 1938, who coached her to win two golf tournaments in 1940. She had 35 career victories in golf, including three U.S. Opens.

9. Julie Penrose

As a community leader, philanthropist, and patron of the arts, Penrose was one of the most influential women in the growth and development of Colorado and Colorado Springs. According to the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, she helped found numerous institutions, including the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College and Fountain Valley School. Penrose and her husband, Spencer Penrose, also established the El Pomar Foundation in 1937, which has now awarded more than $700 million through community stewardship programs and grants to nonprofit organizations serving Colorado.

10. Mary Elitch Long

Long and her husband John moved to Denver in 1882 where they opened a restaurant called Elitch’s. They also bought an apple orchard near Denver which later became Elitch’s Zoological Gardens. After John’s passing a year later, Long was left to run the business herself. According to Colorado Encyclopedia, Long became the first woman in the world to own and operate a zoo. She expanded it to include moving pictures and fireworks, amusement rides, and hot air balloons. According to the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, Long had a well-earned reputation as a businesswoman, serving as a powerful role model.

11. Ellis Meredith

Known as the “Susan B. Anthony of Colorado,” Ellis Meredith was an accomplished journalist who led Colorado’s suffrage movement. According to the Colorado Encyclopedia, Meredith was born in Montana in 1865 and moved to Denver with her family at a young age. She advocated for women’s rights in her column Women’s World in Rocky Mountain News. She met Susan B. Anthony at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, asking her for help and claiming that if Colorado went for women’s suffrage the rest of the West would follow. Meredith also held several political positions, including delegate to the Denver City Charter convention, city election commissioner, and member of the Democratic Party State Central Committee.

Article via OutThereColorado