Today we welcome Linda Shenton Matchett to the Petticoats and Pistols Corral.
In December 1866, the American Civil War had been only been over for a little more than eighteen months. Tensions still ran high in many areas of the country. But one man was already looking toward the future. In ten years, the country would celebrate its centennial, and he had visions of a grand event, one that included nations from around the globe.
John L. Campbell, a professor at Wabash College in Indiana contacted Philadelphia Mayor Morton McMichael and suggested that his town would be the perfect place to hold the centennial. It would take four years of discussions, studies, and committee meetings, but the Philadelphia City Council finally agreed in January 1870. Another year was needed for the federal government to pass a bill to create a Centennial Commission. Oh, and by the way, the US government would not be liable for any expenses.
A force to be reckoned with Elizabeth Duane Gillespie, great-great-granddaughter of founding father Benjamin Franklin, chaired the Women’s Centennial Exposition Committee. Tasked with selling subscriptions to raise $1 million, she “led an army of women through the neighborhoods.” They secured the pledges in a mere two days. In addition, she collected 82,000 signatures and obtained letters from all over the country that convinced Congress to lend $1.5 million to the exposition.
Building commenced, and eventually there would be 200 hundred buildings spread over the 450 acres of Fairmont Park. However, eleven months prior to the exhibition, Elizabeth was informed that the Main Hall no longer had room for women. Incensed, she once again turned to her committee who raised more $31,000 in four months to build a one-acre women’s pavilion that would eventually house seventy-four inventions patented by women, including a steam engine.
Another woman saw the country’s one-hundred anniversary as the perfect place to present her “Declaration of the Rights of Women.” Wyoming had granted women the right to vote and hold office in 1869, followed by many other states and territories, but those rights did not carry to the federal level, and Susan B. Anthony had been criss-crossing the country for more than twenty-five years campaigning for a constitutional amendment.
Prohibited from speaking at the July 4th celebration, she simply walked down the aisle of Independence Hall in the middle of Richard Henry Lee’s speech. Grandson and namesake of one of the Declaration of Independence signers, he watched as she handed the scroll tied in a navy-blue ribbon to the host, then turned and made her way out of the building, distributing copies to the clamoring crowd as she went. Outside in front of hundreds of people, she read the document in its entirety as the remaining copies were handed out. Newspapers covered the event and printed portions of the document. Word spread, and newspapers outside of Philadelphia picked up the story. Miss Anthony’s plan worked. She’d escalated visibility to the cause.
Unfortunately, she would not live to see the ratification of the 19th amendment forty-four years later.
Maeve’s Pledge
Pledges can’t be broken, can they?
Finally out from under her father’s tyrannical thumb, Maeve Wycliffe can live life on her terms. So what if everyone sees her as a spinster to be pitied. She’ll funnel her energies into what matters most: helping the less fortunate and getting women the right to vote. When she’s forced to team up with the local newspaper editor to further the cause, will her pledge to remain single get cropped?
Widower Gus Deighton sees no reason to tempt fate that he can find happiness a second time around. Well past his prime, who would want him anyway? He’ll continue to run his newspaper and cover Philadelphia’s upcoming centennial celebration. But when the local women’s suffrage group agrees that the wealthy, attractive, and very single Maeve Wycliffe act as their liaison, he finds it difficult to remain objective.
Maeve’s Pledge is part of the multi-author series Suffrage Spinsters but can be read as a standalone story. Grab your copy today and curl up with some history, hope, and happily ever after.
GIVEAWAY: Linda attended the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee and was astonished at the displays, including technology that at the time seemed only possible in science fiction, but is now part of our everyday lives. To be entered in the random drawing fore-book copy of Maeve’s Pledge, leave a comment about a time when you attended an event (large or small) that impacted you in some way.
Linda Shenton Matchett writes about ordinary people who did extraordinary things in days gone by. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII and a former trustee for her local public library. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state and immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors.
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History is full of such stories that add to our general knowledge of events. Often it is in the small things forgotten that we get a proper grasp of the events and get a more personalized view of the time.
You make an excellent point and I agree about how small things affect us.
neighborhood Christmas party
Fun! When I was growing up, one of the housing developments where we lived would have a summer neighborhood “block party.”
I attended the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, too.
Very cool! Wasn’t it amazing?
Hi, Linda. It’s good to see you here. I also attended the 1882 World’s Fair in Knoxville.
Hi Janice! How cool that you were there too! Thanks for stopping by.
I went to the state fair years ago and saw a lot of things I didn’t think were possible.
People are creative, aren’t they?
Excellent post. I think about how frustrating it was for the women, famous and non-famous, who worked for suffrage and to this day I make sure I vote in every election.
As far as events, I grew up in a small county in Northern California and as a child I thought the county fair was the state fair. ?? Had a big surprise coming when I did make it to the one in Sacramento.
I’ll be Sacramento was HUGE! I grew up going to county fairs too and also make it a point to vote.
It is always so very interesting when we attend the Historical Days that our town has once a year.
There are towns near us that hold Old Home Days or Historical Days. I love those.
Thanks for sharing I always love The Fair that is in our area ever year getting to see and hear about all the different Animals and Livestock plus the kids that participate in showing their livestock at the fair!
The county fair where I lived when I was in high school was a 4-H fair and there was lots of livestock.
Many years ago there was a world fair in TN. We went to see my aunt and uncle in TN and then all went to the worlds fair. It was huge. I mean really huge. Ok I was a young teen so everything seemed huge then. We walked from booth to booth and it was all so amazing. I picked up some things for my hope chest. When I look back on that time, a lot of the things there were for the future of something and many came to pass
quilting dash lady at comcast dot net
Many years ago, we were able to make a trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan to attend a Bill Gaither concert with the Homecoming friends. This was before my Mom became too sick to get around. We ended up getting wonderful seats. We spent a lot of the time in tears as we were able to see some of our favorite Southern gospel singers in person. It was such a wonderful time. We left with such a heart full of love for the Lord. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
Linda, Thank you for the interesting piece of history about the Centennial Exposition and women’s part in it. Seemingly as usual, women were critical in making it happen and shut out of much of the celebration and recognition. We were lucky enough to attend Expo 86 (the World’s Fair) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Our daughters were in middle school and our son was 3 1/2. We spent 2 days at the Expo and a day at the Vancouver Aquarium. It was quite an experience. The girls loved every minute of it and we were able to see quite a bit during our short time there. Keeping a hyper-active 3 year old contained and occupied took a bit more of the adults’ time. The one thing I purchased was a lovely Beatrix Potter cup and saucer at the British Pavilion. It is a great experience and everyone should go if they get the opportunity.
The World’s Fair held in Montreal, Canada in 1967 was held only 65 miles from my home, but I was in college and never got the opportunity to attend. I have been to the park where the New York World’s Fair was held in 1964. We now live about 90 miles from Knoxville, TN but obviously too late for the fair. We have visited the park that remains from the Fair. We have also visited the Parthenon in Nashville left over from the 1897 Exposition.