Women's Stories at Cuyahoga Valley National Park for the 19th Amendment's Centennial

Woman suffrage headquarters, Upper Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, 1912. Some of the earliest women's rights conventions were held in Ohio, and the American Woman Suffrage Association was established in Cleveland in 1869. Courtesy Library of Congress.

The 19th Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920. It made it possible for women to vote by prohibiting states and the federal government from denying access to the ballot box because of sex, and the National Park Service (NPS) calls it a benchmark moment for American democracy and an important milestone in women's equality. For the amendment's 100th anniversary, a column by the head of a Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) division looks at the women whose stories are tied to the park, and at two nearby historic sites.

The centennial at NPS

As a federal agency that manages national parks, historic sites and other places important in American heritage, the NPS plays a part in sharing American stories. In 2020 it joined many other organizations in commemorating the centennial, with expanded coverage of the amendment, the drive for the right to vote and the role of women in society, activities families could do from home, and details of the Girl Scout 19th Amendment Patch Program.

A settler in the valley

At CVNP, the anniversary prompted the park to explore stories of women tied to it. Mehitable Frazee was among the earliest European women to settle in the valley. She moved there in 1806 with her husband Stephen, and they bought land near the Cuyahoga River, built a log house and farmed. In 1826 they replaced the log home with the brick house that still stands on Valley View Road, building it themselves with little more than a stylebook to guide them. Mehitable managed a household that included hired laborers and seven surviving children.

Women and the park

Other stories follow two threads: women's part in creating the park, and women's part in bringing their communities into it.

The park grew in part from grassroots efforts to protect the valley from suburban sprawl, and women played pivotal roles through organizations such as the League of Women Voters. Women led on-the-ground efforts like bus tours to build support for the park, and then volunteered for it for decades. The column ties this to a less-well-known driving force in the environmental movement. Adam Rome, author of The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism, argues that suburbanization was one of the greatest transformations of the environment and, along with the loss of wilderness, contributed to the rise of environmentalism, and he notes the important role of civic clubs that were often led by women.

The second thread is the role parks play in communities. The column says women have often been the biggest advocates for outdoor recreation for child development, physical wellness and mental health, and that the tradition is long standing. Jane Edna Hunter, a prominent African American social worker in Cleveland, established the Phillis Wheatley Association in 1911 to support African American women, and during her tenure the association built Camp Mueller in Cuyahoga Valley. Rangers and community leaders, often women, from around Greater Cleveland now work together to provide opportunities for community members in the park.

Two nearby historic sites

The NPS also operates First Ladies National Historic Site in Canton, which highlights the private and public lives of First Ladies, and James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, which preserves the home of the 20th President. President Garfield was assassinated in 1881, during his first few months in office. The site reflects the influence of his wife, Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, who wanted his letters, papers and diaries preserved for posterity and had a Memorial Library added to the home to house them. The column calls this a first and the birthplace of the Presidential library idea.

Lucretia Rudolph Garfield. NPS Collection.

Related NPS reading

Two NPS articles are listed with the column. One notes that on June 16, 1919, Ohio voted in favor of the amendment, and that by August 1920, 36 states, Ohio among them, had approved it, making women's suffrage legal across the country. The other says that, unlike the West, with its early successes, or the South, where racism impeded the expansion of voting rights, the Midwest has no single dominant narrative of the woman suffrage campaign.

Sources

• Jennie Vasarhelyi, who leads the division of interpretation, education and visitor services at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Celebrating the 19th Amendment, National Park Service; the author's photograph, the centennial patch graphic with a partner's logo, a volunteer's photograph and the volunteers' names are left out; rewritten in hubnx's own words.