Program

National Votes for Women Trail

Subject

People

Location

29 E 29th St, New York, NY 10016, USA

Lat/Long

40.7448, -73.98444

Grant Recipient

National Collaborative for Women's History Sites

National suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) helped unite New York City women’s suffrage clubs through the establishment of the Interurban Political Equality Council (IPEC), first organized in 1903. According to the New York State report found in volume six of The History of Woman Suffrage, the IPEC was formed at the home of Brooklyn suffragist Priscilla D. Hackstaff, then president of the Kings County Political Equality League. It started with the coming together of five New York City suffrage groups, quickly growing to encompass twenty affiliated groups. Catt, who was president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) from 1900 to 1904 and again from 1915 to 1920, served as chair of the IPEC. In 1907, IPEC headquarters were established at the Martha Washington Hotel, a hotel exclusively for women located at 29 E 29th St in New York City. The IPEC served as a federation of the various suffrage clubs in New York City, establishing city-wide committees on organization, suffrage literature, legislative work, and publicity. The IPEC aided in the formation of additional New York City suffrage clubs, organized mass suffrage meetings, and helped distribute suffrage literature throughout the city.

In 1915, suffragists were successful in securing a ballot measure at that year’s election for a proposed women’s suffrage amendment to the state constitution. However, the proposed amendment was defeated at the polls. In November 1917, women’s suffrage once again went before the voters of New York. Thanks to the tireless efforts of suffragists, including those working within the IPEC in New York City, voters of the state finally approved the women’s suffrage amendment and women obtained the right to vote in New York, a major achievement for the suffrage movement.

Victory in New York helped to influence public support for women’s suffrage on a national scale, and on June 4, 1919, the United States Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment which reads, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” By August 1920, the necessary 36 states had ratified the amendment, securing women’s right to vote across the United States.

As of 2022, the former Martha Washington Hotel building, which served as the location of IPEC headquarters during the fight for women’s right to vote, was still in operation as a hotel under the name the Redbury New York at 29 E 29th St in New York City.