Florence Fifer Bohrer Historic Marker

In 1925, Florence Fifer Bohrer became the first woman to win a seat in the Illinois State Senate. She won re-election four years later. In 1932, she lost her seat along with most other members of the Republican Party as voters decided to support the Democrats and their platform. While Bohrer social welfare programs and had risen to local prominence through her efforts to create a tuberculosis sanitarium, she opposed higher taxes and was reluctant to see the expansion of the federal government. As the Depression worsened, Democrats called for more a active federal government in the face of the growing economic crisis. Progressive Republicans like Bohrer supported the same ideas, but believed that the best solution was to work at the local level. During the Depression years, Borer would play an active role in that local effort, chairing the county's relief commission.