Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home and Museum gains new attraction

By Molly Ann Howell, Special to the Press

COVID-19 may have put a stop to a lot of the Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home and Interpretive Center’s events the past two years, but it was able to accomplish one of its goals: receiving a suffrage wagon replica.

The museum was one of two Iowa museums that received a suffrage wagon replica from the 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration Committee. Yesterday’s Memories in Sanborn was given a display wagon, while the one the Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home and Interpretive Center got is a parade wagon.

During the suffrage movement, women used wagons to distribute the women’s magazine that promoted literacy for women and tried to get them to understand what suffrage would mean for them.

The Iowa League of Women Voters helped raise the money for the wagons to be built.

The Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home and Interpretive Center’s wagon was used at many events and parades over the summer, including one at the Iowa State Fair.

Cheryl Erb, one of the museum’s board members, said that she really enjoyed traveling with the wagon over the summer.

“At the end I felt like I knew this buggy personally,” Erb said. “I’ve traveled thousands of miles across the state of Iowa with both of [the buggies].”

The museum plans to have the wagon on-site and use it in future parades, although it isn’t at the museum quite yet. Erb explained that it should be there by spring.

She said it’s been a great addition to the museum.

“It’s such a fit with what Carrie did and to promote what she did,” Erb commented. “We just feel it will be a nice addition to our future events.”