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Nellie Tayloe Ross Is Elected Governor of Wyoming

Nellie Tayloe Ross won election as governor of Wyoming on November 4, 1924.

Published · Updated · 1 min read

The Event

Nellie Tayloe Ross won election as governor of Wyoming on November 4, 1924. She ran after the death of her husband, Governor William Bradford Ross.

The Wider Story

Her election belonged to a wider period of expanding women's participation in American politics. Wyoming's earlier history of women's voting rights helped shape the setting.

Putting the Event in Perspective

Ross took office in January 1925 and became the first woman to serve as a United States state governor.

Reading the Historical Record

Election day and inauguration day are different milestones; Miriam Ferguson also won a governorship in the same November election.

About the Historical Recreation

The accompanying visual is an illustrative reconstruction: a Wyoming polling place in 1924 with distant women voters and a ballot box. It is not authentic archival footage, an eyewitness record or additional evidence for the event.

Sources

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