Seattle Celebrates the New Territorial Suffrage Law
A boisterous and hopeful crowd gathers at the Yesler Hall to toast the recent legislative victory granting women the right to vote in Washington Territory.
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In spite of the unfavorable condition of the streets and the almost fathomless mud, Yesler Hall was filled to its fullest capacity by those who had come forth to add their voices of ratification to the action of the Legislature in enfranchising the women of the Territory. The promoters of the movement must have been encouraged when they looked upon the floor, which was packed, the hall overflowing, and people occupying every inch of room. After music by the Seattle Band, Judge Lewis said: 'I am glad to see this audience here tonight; glad to know that so many of the friends of equal suffrage and equal rights have braved the storm and the rain to add their voices to the chorus of approbation. The women will take hold of public affairs and will exercise the right of suffrage newly given them. There is no fear but that with added care and duty of molding the State and its purity, the enfranchised women will exercise the right given them.' W. H. White, Esq. followed, remarking: 'I tell you, now, speaking as a soldier of the Union, that no victory since Appomattox has sent such a thrill through my heart as did that victory won for equal rights in the legislative halls of Washington Territory.'
“We propose to raise it from the filth and mire and pollution into which it has sunk and place it securely far from corruption and fraud.”
This meeting took place during the brief, hopeful window when Washington women won the right to vote, a right the territorial courts would strike down only a few years later. Today, these same Yesler and Commercial Street neighborhoods are the heart of a city still grappling with the full promises of civic equality and the influence of money in politics.
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