Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home and Museum added to historic trail

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home and Museum became the newest destination to be added to the distinguished list of places marked on the National Votes for Women Trail on Friday.

The museum held a reception, followed by a dedication ceremony and an unveiling of the marker Friday morning.

“Today is an especially noteworthy milestone for the organization that manages and cares for this historic site,” said David McCartney, son of the National 19th Amendment Society founding president Rhoda McCartney.

“Thirty years ago, in 1991, the newly-formed National 19th Amendment Society, a nonprofit organization based here in Charles City, purchased the Lane home and surrounding acreage,” he said.

McCartney recognized all past and current society board members, all past and current advisory board members, and the many volunteers who have made the trail destination possible.

“Over time the home has been lovingly restored thanks to support from the community and from across the country,” McCartney said. “In 2005, the home was opened to the public for the first time, featuring a permanent exhibit designed by students from the University of Northern Iowa. Since then, thousands of visitors have come here to be challenged by the past that has brought us here today.”

The National Votes for Women Trail is a project of the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites and the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. The marker is one of only six such designations in the state of Iowa and a part of a trail that crosses into all 50 states.

“Each site contributes to a full and complex tapestry of stories throughout the United States,” McCartney said.

Ivadelle Stevenson, Carrie’s great niece and a long-time 19th Amendment Society member, recalled her parents and grandparents telling stories about Carrie Lane as she was growing up.

Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, who grew up in Charles City and also spent many years here as an adult, was central to the fight for women’s suffrage in the U.S. and devoted most of her life to the expansion of women’s rights around the world.

Her political strategies and organizational skills have been called instrumental to the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

At the age of 7, Catt’s family moved to rural Charles City, where she graduated from high school in 1877. In 1880, she graduated from the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm in Ames (now Iowa State University) at the top of her class. She was also the only woman in her graduating class.

After college, she returned to Charles City to work as a law clerk and, in nearby Mason City, as a school teacher and a principal. In 1883, she became one of the first women in the nation appointed superintendent of schools.

The Carrie Lane Chapman Catt Girlhood Home and Museum, located near Charles City, is a historic site that provides an opportunity for guests to visit the home where her personality was formed by her family and community.

The National 19th Amendment Society provides financial and volunteer support for maintenance of the home and museum, educational programs for all ages, and preserves the history of Catt’s life and body of work.

Emma Prichard, age 13, introduced Lane’s great-great nephew Tim Lane, and noted that Carrie Lane was 13 years old when she recognized an inherent wrong — the denial of voting rights on account of sex and began her remarkable lifelong journey.

Tim Lane recounted several stories about his great-great-aunt’s journey.

“Carrie championed great causes with great skills, as an orator and an organizer,” Lane said. “Conversely, she brought order to a chaotic scene, and a well-oiled machine to a cause that was not an uphill battle — it was an up-cliff battle.”