Gov. Mark Gordon celebrated women’s suffrage on Friday by honoring the first woman to ever cast a ballot in the United States, Louisa Swain.
Swain made history on Sept. 6, 1870 when she awoke early and voted in Laramie’s municipal election.
“There was too much good sense in our community for any jeers or sneers to be seen on such an occasion,” The Laramie Daily Sentinel reported after Swain voted.
On Sunday, there was a re-enactment and celebration of Swain’s groundbreaking vote at History House Plaza in Laramie, where U.S. Senate candidate Cynthia Lummis spoke.
Gordon took photos in front of a semi-trailer that’s been driven across the country in honor of Swain. It started in Washington, D.C. and ended its journey in Laramie on Saturday.
“It was wonderful to celebrate outside the Capitol with the 4 female drivers who piloted this truck from Washington, D.C., to Wyoming,” Gordon wrote in a tweet.
The Wyoming Territorial Legislature passed a law in December 1869 allowing women 21 and older to vote in every election. It marked the first time anywhere in the world that women were allowed to vote.
In 2008, the Wyoming Legislature passed a bill declaring Sept. 6 as Louisa Swain Day.
