Northeast Ohio Women's Suffrage Driving Tour - Clio

Entries on This Tour

1. Oberlin College and Conservatory

One of the oldest coeducational institutions of higher learning in the world and the oldest coeducational liberal arts institution in the country, Oberlin College was established in 1833 in Oberlin, OH. Founded as the Ohio Collegiate Institute until 1850, the college has a long-standing history of progressivism in education and national causes. It was the first college in the U.S. to develop a policy to admit African American students (1835) and to grant degrees to female students (1837). The Oberlin Conservatory of Music was incorporated to the institution in 1867, and is the oldest continuously operated conservatory in the United States.

2. Sojourner Truth Building; of Sojourner Truth's Women's Rights Speech "Ain't I a Woman?"

This building was constructed in 1916 and renovated in the early 1990s and named in honor of Sojourner Truth, the famous abolitionist and women's rights orator who is credited with making a speech challenging the exclusion of women of color from antebellum women's movement. Born into slavery in or around 1797, Truth escaped with her daughter in 1826 and later made a living by traveling and giving speeches at conventions and selling portraits of herself at the gatherings. Truth was present at the women's rights convention that took place in this location in 1851 at the Universalist Stone Church which stood at this site prior to the construction of the present building that now bears her name. While Truth's exact speech was lost to history, an account of the proceedings published a month after the convention confirms that she did address the convention. A later account of the speech includes Truth's use of the phrase "Ain't I a Woman" as a refrain used to counter the exclusion of women of color from the antebellum women's movement and from notions of womanhood framed by whites.

3. The Salem Historical Society

Salem, OH was founded on April 30, 1806 by Zadok Street, a New Jersey clock-maker, and John Straughton, a Pennsylvania potter; the population consisting predominantly of Quakers. The city was named after Salem, New Jersey, from where Zadok originally immigrated. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Salem was a hub in northeast OH for organizations advocating for abolition and equal suffrage, as well as for industrial growth. The Salem Historical Society was formed in 1947 to bring to life the rich history of the city and to tell the stories of its former and current residents.

4. Trumbull County Courthouse

Located in downtown Warren, Ohio, the Trumbull County Courthouse’s towering Richardson Romanesque structure occupies downtown Warren’s public square. The current building, which was constructed in 1895, represents the third version of the Trumbull County Courthouse and is built on the site of the two previous courthouses. The current courthouse was built to accommodate Trumbull County’s growing population during the late 19th century and is home to Ohio’s largest common pleas courtroom. In addition to serving as a location for judicial proceedings, the courthouse played a role in the community by temporarily housing the Warren Public Library and the headquarters for the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The Trumbull County Courthouse is still in use today.

5. Harriet Taylor Upton House

Originally constructed in 1840 for the family of General Simon Perkins, this house in Warren, OH is better known for its most famous owner, women's suffrage leader Harriet Taylor Upton. Upton occupied the house from 1887-1931, and from 1903-1905 the home served as the headquarters of the National American Woman's Suffrage Association (NAWSA). The house deteriorated in the second half of the 20th century and would have been demolished, had it not been for the efforts of local preservationists who refurbished the home. The Upton House was listed to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 for its significance to the Women's Suffrage Movement.

6. South Newbury Union Chapel

The South Newbury Union Chapel was constructed in 1857-58 to serve as a meeting house of free speech and gatherings for public issues for the community of Burton, Ohio. It is regarded as the "Free Speech Chapel" and "Cradle of Equal Suffrage" for its long history of hosting groups that advocated for various causes, including women's rights and temperance.

7. Joshua R. Giddings Law Office

Joshua Reed Giddings was a notable attorney, Congressman, and Abolitionist in Northeast Ohio. After serving in the War of 1812, he passed the bar examination and established his own law practice in Ashtabula County. He constructed a small structure beside his home to serve as his law office and library with partner Benjamin F. Wade. A successful attorney, later in life he embarked on a political career and was elected to the Ohio General Assembly and later the U.S. House of Representatives. Throughout his 20 year tenure in politics, he utilized his status to effect change in slavery legislation.

8. Betsey Mix Cowles House

Betsey Mix Cowles is known for her life-long dedication to education, abolition, and women's rights in Northeast Ohio. From early in her career she was passionate about education reform, and later became actively involved in the abolitionist and women's suffrage movements beginning in the mid-1830s. She opened her home to discussions on the moral deprivation of slavery and the necessity of equal suffrage, as well as to fugitive slaves traveling north seeking freedom.

9. William & Katherine Hubbard House

William Hubbard, born in 1787, raised in Connecticut and New York served as a colonel in the War of 1812. Hubbard and his wife moved to Ashtabula County, Ohio to help his relatives with their lumber and warehouse businesses. Ashtabula County had a large abolitionist movement that operated several Underground Railroad stations. Hubbard quickly joined his brothers in the Ashtabula County Anti-Slavery Society using his house as a station on the Underground Railroad. Hubbard's home became a vital stop on the Underground Railroad in Northern Ohio. Situated near Lake Erie, Hubbard's home was usually a last stop for runaway slaves before escaping to Canada by boats. Hubbard hid runaway slaves in his basement and in his hayloft. Underground Railroad conductors and runaway slaves referred to William and Katherine Hubbard’s home as Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard and The Great Emporium.

10. The Casement House

The Casement House, or "Jennings Place," of Lake County, OH was built in 1870 and designed by Charles W. Heard, one of the most prominent architectural designers in the 19th century Western Reserve. The property was purchased by agriculturalist and Congressman Charles C. Jennings for his daughter, Frances Jennings Casement. Frances Casement (1840-1928) was a prominent figure and activist for women's rights, and co-organized the Painesville Equal Rights Association in 1883. Her husband, John Stephen "Jack" Casement (1829-1909) was a widely respected Civil War general, railroad manufacturer, and Territorial Representative who lobbied for women's suffrage. The house now serves as the headquarters of R. W. Sidley, Inc.

11. Lake Erie College

One of the oldest institutions for higher learning in the Western Reserve, Lake Erie College is a private liberal arts college located in Painesville, OH. Like its predecessors, the Willoughby Female Seminary (1847-1856) and Lake Erie Female Seminary (1856-1898), the college can trace its roots to the seminary movement. Over time, the institution transitioned from a single-sex seminary to a coeducational college, undergoing multiple name changes and adjustments to its curricula in the process. In 1908, the state of Ohio granted the charter to establish the institution of Lake Erie College, as it is known today.

12. Cleveland Woman's Suffrage Party Headquarters

Euclid Avenue in East Cleveland, OH was the site of the Cleveland Woman's Suffrage Party headquarters starting in 1912. On June 7, 1916, the Plain Dealer verified the location of the Woman's Suffrage Party headquarters, and reported a jubilant celebration after East Cleveland voters approved a Charter Amendment extending suffrage rights to women in municipal elections. Ohio became the first state east of the Mississippi to vote on issues of universal suffrage (1912), and East Cleveland became one of the first cities to grant woman suffrage for municipal issues (1916); a decision that was upheld the following year by the Ohio Supreme Court. Following the ratification of the 19th Amendment for women's suffrage, the Cleveland Woman's Suffrage Party disbanded in May 1920 and reorganized as the Cleveland League of Women Voters.

This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.

Northeast Ohio Women's Suffrage Driving Tour

Created by Ohio History Service Corps on October 6th 2020, 5:01:10 pm.

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Description

This tour takes you to the historic sites and museums across northeast Ohio that either played an integral role in the Women's Suffrage Movement, by hosting individuals or events related to the movement, or contains artifacts and memorabilia that tell the story of the meetings and events pertaining to women's suffrage rights. Many of the leading suffragists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were native or local to the region, and often obtained an education from Oberlin College or Lake Erie College's predecessor institution, Lake Erie Female Seminary. These entries were researched and/or edited as a part of the northeast Ohio suffrage centennial commemoration efforts by the Northeast Ohio Suffrage Centennial Committee. More information on the Women's Suffrage Movement in northeast Ohio and beyond can be found at www.neohiosuffrage.org.

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