STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Blaine County Historical Museum will unveil a historic marker at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 23.

The William G. Pomeroy historic marker on the National Votes for Women Trail will be unveiled that evening in a public ceremony.

Rebecca Cox, who oversees the museum, gave members of the Blaine County Heritage Court a sneak peek at a historical marker that will be erected in Hailey as part of the National Votes for Women Trail. The marker marks the spot where Abigail Scott Duniway spoke in Hailey on behalf of Women’s Suffrage in 1887.

One of 12 children born on an Illinois farm, Duniway championed Idaho’s bid to become the fourth state to give women the right to vote in 1896. Then Duniway, who lived in Portland but had a ranch in Western Idaho, said she would not rest until she could vote in the state of Oregon.

At 78, in poor health, she was the first person in line to vote when Oregon became the seventh state to give women the right to vote in 1912. She passed away two years later, having devoted 40 years to the cause.

“She was simply a woman who used what skills she had to make others’ lives better,” said Cox.  

The trail is a project of the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites. It’s designed to tell the story of women’s suffrage. There are more than 2,000 sites—250 of which have been donated by The William G. Pomeroy Foundation.

Idaho’s other markers are at the First Methodist Church in Boise, also known as Cathedral of the Rockies; the Hutton home in Wallace and Hattie Morgan’s home in Malad.

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