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Primary sources online from the Kansas Historical Society
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Susanna Madora Salter, Mayor of Argonia
This is a portrait of Susanna Madora Salter, Mayor of Argonia, and first woman mayor in the United States. Born March 2, 1860, in Belmont County, Ohio, Susanna Madora Kinsey moved to a Kansas farm with her parents in 1872. Eight years later, while attending the Kansas State Agricultural College, she met and married Lewis Salter. The couple soon moved to Argonia where she cared for their young children and became an officer in the local Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Nominated on the Prohibition Party ticket by several Argonia men as a joke, Salter surprised the group and received two-thirds of the votes. She was elected on April 4, 1887, just weeks after Kansas women had gained the right to vote in city elections.
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Selected Kansas newspaper titles digitized and available on Chronicling America.
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