Lake City in Hinsdale County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)
Votes for Women
Road to the 19th Amendment
| — | National Votes for Women Trail | — |
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 21, 2025
1. Votes for Women Marker
Henry C. & Eugenie W. Olney, J.W. Mills and others formed local Women’s Suffrage Assn. here after Susan B. Anthony’s visit, Sept. 1877.
Erected 2022 by William G. Pomeroy Foundation. (Marker Number 156.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Civil Rights • Fraternal or Sororal Organizations • Women. In addition, it is included in the National Votes for Women Trail, and the Susan B. Anthony series lists. A significant historical month for this entry is September 1877.
Location. 38° 1.746′ N, 107° 18.896′ W. Marker is in Lake City, Colorado, in Hinsdale County. It can be reached from Henson Street north of 3rd Street, on the left when traveling north. The marker is located near the northwest corner of the Hinsdale County Courthouse. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 317 Henson Street, Lake City CO 81235, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Colorado High Rockies. It is also in the American Mountain West. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Alfred (Alferd) Packer's Trial Takes Place at Courthouse in 1883 (here, next to this marker); Susan B. Anthony Speaks at Courthouse on September 20, 1877 (a few steps from this marker); Susan B. Anthony in Lake City (within shouting distance of this marker); Lake City's First Post Office
this page online
Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. Susan B. Anthony in Lake City, Colorado
Also see . . .
1. Colorado’s Suffrage Pioneers.
(by Lisa Bornstein) Excerpt: In September of 1877, Susan B. Anthony, accustomed to packing auditoriums in her drive for women’s suffrage, held court outdoors under the pines of Lake City in Hinsdale County, Colorado – the crowd was too large for any indoor venues. She was mustering support for a referendum on women’s suffrage, but even her formidable presence did not save the day – the referendum was defeated by nearly a two-to-one ratio a month later. Rev. Thomas Bliss described them as “bawling, ranting women, bristling for their rights.”(Submitted on July 24, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)Despite those inauspicious beginnings, Colorado made its mark as only
the second state to grant women’s suffrage, and the first to do so by referendum, nearly 30 years before the 19th Amendment was ratified, bringing voting rights to all American women.Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 21, 20252. Votes for Women MarkerThe marker is located near the northwest corner of the Hinsdale County Courthouse.
2. Women’s Suffrage in Colorado: 1877 and Susan B Anthony.
Excerpt: Colorado territory had not allowed their women at the polls, whereas other territories did (Wyoming Territory passed women’s suffrage on December 1869; Utah Territory in February 1870). When Colorado sought statehood in 1876, suffragists raised the issue again. The intrepid Susan B Anthony spent a month in Colorado in the fall of 1877 dedicating herself to the cause:(Submitted on July 24, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)“Anthony was a born agitator and an inveterate adventurer, and the call from Colorado proved irresistible. In early September, she arrived in Denver, ready to lecture throughout the state. With casual fortitude, she rode on a narrow-gauge railroad over a nine-thousand-foot peak to reach a railroad town that was barely three months old.” (Dubois page 121)Anthony’s efforts were in vain; the Colorado referendum of 1877 was defeated, for various and complicated reasons, by a margin of two to one (see a good account in Colorado Encyclopedia).It did, however, give Colorado women the right to vote in school elections and to hold school offices.Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 21, 20253. Hinsdale County Courthouse (west elevation)Looking east across the alley between Gunnison Avenue and Hinson Street. The marker is on the west side of the courthouse.
Credits. This page was last revised on January 22, 2026. It was originally submitted on July 24, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 84 times since then and 16 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on July 24, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
