To honor Women’s History Month, for the past few years I have presented several accomplished women who left their mark on Cincinnati. Trailblazers, pioneers, women who changed the world.
The first names you think of – Ruth Lyons, Marian Spencer or Bobbie Sterne – were profiled in years past. Now I’m digging a bit deeper to shine the light on deserving women who aren’t so recognizable these days.
If you are intrigued by the brief bios presented here, read up further on their stories. The more light shined on these remarkable women, the better. At one time, these folks made headlines and inspired others. They can do that again.
Women in arts and entertainment
Betsy “Sockum” Jochum: A stand-out player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the Hughes High School grad played for the South Bend Blue Sox in Indiana from 1943 to 1948. She led the league in hits, singles and doubles as a rookie, won the batting title (hitting .296) in 1944 and once stole seven bases in a game.
Lilly Martin Spencer: The English-born painter in Marietta caught the eye of arts patron Nicholas Longworth in 1841. Encouraged, she embarked on a successful art career in Cincinnati, then New York, painting everyday domestic scenes featuring women. All while juggling life as breadwinner and mother of seven in the mid-19th century.
Peggy Frank Crawford, Betty Pollak Rauh and Rita Rentschler Cushman: The women raised money and organized the Modern Art Society in 1939 to exhibit modern works by the likes of Picasso and Monet at the Cincinnati Art Museum. The MAS evolved into the Contemporary Arts Center in 1954.
Mary Lee Tate: An art teacher at Frederick Douglass School and Harriet Beecher Stowe School, the Cincinnati artist had her landscape paintings exhibited at the Harmon Foundation (“1933 Exhibition of the Work of Negro Artists”), the New York Public Library and the Smithsonian.
Trixie Friganza: Born Delia O’Callaghan (she took her mother’s maiden name for the stage), the bold and brassy “The Cincinnati Kid” became a sought-after comedic actress on the vaudeville circuit and later in silent films. She parlayed her popularity to support women’s suffrage and a positive female body image.
Women in politics and law
Estelle Sternberger: A graduate of the University of Cincinnati and the School of Jewish Philanthropy, the activist and radio commentator used her powerful voice as an advocate for peace and women in the workplace in the 1930s. She was executive director of World Peaceways and author of “The Supreme Cause: A Practical Book About Peace.”
Judge Olive Holmes: “I came to Ohio because women could study law here and they couldn’t in Pennsylvania at the time,” Holmes told The Enquirer in 1970. She was the first woman to serve on both the Hamilton County Municipal and Juvenile courts, filling vacancies before being elected in the 1960s.
Mary Edith Campbell: In 1911, Campbell became the first woman elected to public office in Cincinnati when she won a seat on the Board of Education. She even received a vote from then-President William Howard Taft, which was reported in The New York Times.
Women in business
Natalie de Blois: The pioneering architect studied at Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio, then Columbia University. She joined the firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, where her first project as lead designer was the modernist Terrace Plaza Hotel, completed in 1948. She also designed Lever House and the Pepsi-Cola Building in New York City.
Ida Koverman: The “lioness of Hollywood,” a Cincinnati native, was executive secretary and confidant to film mogul Louis B. Mayer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. One exec said “she damn near ran the studio,” and she discovered and mentored stars that include Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor and Judy Garland. She was also a political force in Republican circles in the 1930s and ’40s.
Betty Blake: As VP and general manager of the Delta Queen Steamboat Co., she was responsible for saving the historic vessel. She orchestrated races against the Belle of Louisville and spearheaded the efforts that got the Delta Queen exempt from laws prohibiting overnight cruises.
Women in science and education
Elizabeth Mendenhall: During the Civil War, she led the Soldiers’ Aid Society of Cincinnati, working daily in area hospitals to minister to the sick, wounded and dying. She also organized a sanitary fair and a soldiers’ home of Cincinnati, and raised funds for hospital supplies.
Ruth Nichols: The aviatrix pioneer set transcontinental speed records in Powel Crosley Jr.’s Lockheed Vega airplane with the goal of being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Though Amelia Earhart beat her to it, Nichols was one of the brave female pilots in the early days of aviation.
Hilda Rothschild: Fleeing Germany as Nazis came to power, Rothschild went to France to study at the Sorbonne and Maria Montessori. She introduced the Montessori method of child education to Cincinnati, opening the first Montessori preschool class at Cincinnati County Day School in 1962. She also started the first Montessori teacher program at Xavier University in 1965.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 16 women who left their mark on Cincinnati history
Reporting by Jeff Suess, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
