It’s been a century since a series of tragedies and unexpected twists changed history for one Wyoming woman, the Cowboy State and politics in the United States.
Those culminated Jan. 5, 1925, when Nellie Tayloe Ross was sworn in as Wyoming’s — and America’s — first woman governor.
Born in 1876, Nellie Tayloe was working as a kindergarten teacher in Kansas when she met and eventually married William Bradford Ross, a lawyer with political ambitions.
Ross moved his new wife to his home in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where she settled happily into life as a wife and mother.
She always insisted that a woman’s fulfillment came primarily from her domestic role and had no desire to work outside her home. She attended local social functions and was a member of the woman clubs of the day.
She left the politics to her husband, a staunch Democrat, although she acted as his confidante and helped form his policies from the viewpoint of a homemaker.
In 1923, William successfully won his bid to become the 12th governor of Wyoming. He immediately worked on programs which included tax cuts and banking reforms with his wife’s full support.
However, his time in office ended abruptly when he died Oct. 2, 1924. Both parties scrambled to nominate candidates to replace him as governor in a special election to be held just a month later.
While the Republicans nominated an oil businessman, the Democrats offered this nomination to Governor Ross’s grieving widow. In the 1920s, such a thing was virtually unheard of and, at first, Nellie turned down the proposal.
“It's so hard to imagine what she had just gone through,” Historian Rick Ewig said. “Here she was, a single parent with three boys. She knew that she needed a job and had to support her family.”
With the new responsibility of being the sole provider for her family, Nellie finally accepted the role of candidate to finish her husband's term as governor. She refused to campaign and left the decision to Wyoming’s voters.
First Woman Governor
Ross won the election by more than 8,000 votes.
This victory was believed to have been won for three reasons. In part, she got sympathy votes for a widow. Others voted for her because they distrusted the oil industry so soon after the recent Teapot Dome scandal and her Republican opponent was an oil man.
Lastly, some voters felt that Wyoming, the first state to give women the right to vote, should be the first to have a woman as governor.
Wyoming ended up electing the first woman governor by mere weeks.
On the same election day that Ross became Wyoming’s 13th governor, Miriam A. “Ma” Ferguson won Texas’s gubernatorial race. However, the inauguration for Ross was Jan. 5, 1925, while Ferguson’s came Jan. 20, giving Ross the distinction as first woman governor in America.
The win was not seen as a good thing by all.
The Cincinnati Enquirer, for instance, was scathing in its criticism, writing that Mrs. Ross was so inept that the most constructive thing she had done prior to being elected was to bake a pie or make a bed.
There was some truth to this editorial.
“When she was running for governor the first time, she had never given a talk in public,” Ewig told Cowboy State Daily. “She had maybe given a talk at a women’s club. Then all of a sudden, she is to be this public person.”
Despite suddenly being thrust into the public spotlight, Ross discovered that she excelled at public speaking and was able to convince lawmakers to continue many of her husband’s programs.
She soon built her own platform based on stiffer regulations for mine safety, tax relief for the poor, more state loans for farmers, revision of state banking laws, fewer working hours for women and ratification of the federal amendment to abolish child labor.
Nellie Tayloe Ross signing her oath of office as governor of Wyoming on Jan. 5, 1925. Behind her are, from left; Judge Samuel Tayloe, her brother; George Ross, her son; Mrs. Alfred Tayloe, her sister-in-law; William Bradford Ross, her youngest son; and Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice C.N. Potter, who administered the oath of office. (Wyoming State Archives) 
Director of the Mint Nellie Tayloe Ross and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, ca. 1940. (Box 24, Nellie Tayloe Ross papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming) 
Gov. Nellie Tayloe Ross (Cowboy State Daily Staff) 
The re-election campaign poster for Nellie Tayloe Ross. She narrowly lost her bid, in part she later said because of her strong support of Prohibition. (Cowboy State Daily Staff) 
Teacher Bridgette Nielsen looks on as Gov. Mark Gordon congratulates her Green River High School Social Studies class for writing the Nellie Tayloe Ross Day Proclamation. (Courtesy Dick Blust, Sweetwater County Museum) 
Nellie Tayloe Ross as Wyoming governor, left, and director of the U.S. Mint, right. (Getty Images) 
Nellie Tayloe Ross practices piano when she was director of the U.S. Mint in this undated photo. (Getty Images) 
Nellie Tayloe Ross, first female Wyoming governor, looks sharp as if about to turn and walk to Wyoming’s state Capitol in the background. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
First Woman U.S. Mint Director
Two years later, she lost her re-election bid by less than 1,400 votes, partly due to her strong support of Prohibition. However, Ross’s public service was far from over.
She had been pushed out of her domestic role at home into the professional world and continued to find success in this new responsibility.
“The fact that she was so successful as governor set the stage for her to go on and do other things,” Ewig said. “She toured the country talking about her exploits as the first woman governor and got involved with the Democratic Party nationally.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her the first woman director of the U.S. Mint in 1933, a position she held for 20 years through the Great Depression and World War II, difficult times in America.
The war years brought Ross the problem of reducing the amount of copper, zinc and nickel in newly minted coins. She also oversaw the doubling of the Denver mint’s capacity and supervised the construction of a new mint in San Francisco, a new gold depository at Fort Knox, and a silver depository at West Point.
Her name is inscribed on the cornerstone of the latter three structures. She also is the first woman to have a mint medal with her likeness on it.
“She started out here being a good wife and a great mother,” Ewig said. “And then she goes on and shows her real talent later on as a speaker and director of the Mint.”
A Day To Remember
A century after Nellie Tayloe Ross was sworn in to become America’s first woman governor, Jan. 5, 2025, has been proclaimed in Wyoming as Nellie Tayloe Ross Day.
The idea to honor the 100th anniversary in Wyoming was first tossed around at a Sweetwater County Museum Board meeting in Green River. When the board realized that this milestone was fast approaching, they wanted to make sure it was recognized at the very least.
Green River High School teacher Bridgette Nielsen took the next step by bringing it into her social studies class. Nielson walked her students through the process of drafting a proclamation recognizing the significance of the day.
The students studied Ross’ life and other proclamations to determine how it should be written in this real-life lesson on honoring history.
“Basically, it’s about trying to make education more accessible and finding ways to engage students more,” said David Mead, director of the Sweetwater County Museum. “Nellie Tayloe Ross spent a lot of time in Sweetwater County, and this was a great way to connect to her.”
The lessons did not stop in the classroom and the students were invited to attend the signing of the proclamation by Gov. Mark Gordon.
“She was a pioneer both for women in Wyoming, but also for professional women in the United States,” Mead said. “Her campaign slogan says it best: ‘The woman who made good.’”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
