The Celina Democrat, October 23, 1914

SHOWED WOMEN REALLY WANT IT

Suffrage Parade Convinced Many Who Were Skeptical.

     The greatest blow ever struck for suffrage in Ohio is the way disinterested men speak of the suffrage parade in Cleveland Oct. 3. Seven thousand marchers took part. Spectators crowded every available inch for a full half mile.

     Every county in the state was represented as well as every occupation and every degree of wealth. Rich women, poor women, tall women, short women, old women and young girls marched side by side.

      “It answered those people who think that the suffrage agitation is kept up by just a few cranks,” said Mrs. Charles S. Brooks, chairman of the Cuyahoga County Woman Suffrage Association.

The 1914 March for Suffrage that took place in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 3, 1914, included 10,000 women in white dresses of all ages who marched to raise awareness and in promotion of the Ohio Women’s Suffrage Amendment. This amendment was to be on the ballot in Ohio exactly one month from the day they marched. Minerva Kline Brooks was partially responsible for women gaining the right to vote in municipal elections in East Cleveland in 1916. Additionally, Brooks was the chairman of the Women’s Suffrage party campaign committee in East Cleveland. However, this was in 1916 and the parade took place in 1914 which could be a possibility for why she oversaw an association in Cuyahoga County at that time and oversaw one in East Cleveland later. Brooks was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and outside of her involvement in women’s suffrage, she was also a well-respected dancer who helped create and plan the preliminary of Cleveland Play House. The Cuyahoga County Women’s Suffrage Association was created in 1910 by Elizabeth J. Hauser who was born in Warren, Ohio. Hauser worked with a variety of newspapers and served as an editor during her time working for women’s suffrage. This organization she created in 1910 became the Cuyahoga County Women’s Suffrage party, and upon the passing of suffrage, Hauser created and was president of the League of Women Voters. The Celina Democrat was in print between the years of 1895 and 1921 and ran weekly in Mercer County, Ohio.

Written by Hannah Reikowsky, Class of 2021