Program

National Votes for Women Trail

Subject

House, People

Location

163 9th Ave, Granite Falls, MN 56241, USA

Lat/Long

44.8091932, -95.5400328

Grant Recipient

National Collaborative for Women's History Sites

Suffragist and temperance advocate, Nellie Volstead (1868-1918) of Granite Falls, Minnesota was the wife of Minnesota Congressman Andrew J. Volstead, whose name was used for the Volstead Act, the enabling bill used to enforce the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which put into place Prohibition in the United States. Her husband had helped to draft the bill and ensured its passage in 1919. In addition to their temperance advocacy, both Nellie and Andrew Volstead were supporters of women’s suffrage.

The February 3, 1915 edition of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Nellie was “a candidate for the office of treasurer in the election of officers of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage” and that she had “been actively engaged in the organization for some time.” At its formation, the Congressional Union (CU) worked within the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). However, as disagreements over campaign strategies intensified, the CU separated from the NAWSA, and by 1916, CU leaders had established the National Woman’s Party (NWP). The NWP was led by Alice Paul, and employed controversial campaign tactics including dramatic suffrage demonstrations outside of the White House in Washington, D.C. While Nellie did not participate in these controversial suffrage demonstrations, both her and her husband remained supportive of the push for women’s right to vote.

The August 21, 1915 edition of The Suffragist, then the official weekly publication of the CU, included an article on “Minnesota Deputations to Congressman.” It was reported that a delegation of CU workers thanked Congressman Volstead for his support of the proposed federal women’s suffrage amendment in the previous session of Congress. A member of the CU delegation provided an account of their visit to the Volstead home in Granite Falls, Minnesota:

“Both Congressman and Mrs. Volstead are good suffragists. The delegation was cordially received by Congressman and Mrs. Volstead at their home. Mr. Volstead seemed to be sincerely pleased by the earnest, representative character of the delegation which had gathered to thank him for his action on suffrage in the last session.”

“After the business side of the call was over, refreshments were served to the members of the delegation by Mrs. Volstead. In the evening we held a street meeting which was attended by several hundred people of the town.”

In the December 1, 1917 edition of The Woman Citizen, a national women’s suffrage publication, Nellie and her husband were included in an “Honorary Council to supplement the efforts of the suffrage leaders for the Convention” of the NAWSA, being held in Washington, D.C. later that month. It was explained how suffragists viewed this Honorary Council as a sign that women’s suffrage would soon be obtained:

“With the Congress of the United States, headed by the Speaker and his wife, represented by leading men and their wives in both houses on the Honorary or Advisory Council for the Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in December; with the ladies of President Wilson’s cabinet issuing invitations to Congress to meet the officials of the National Association; with the leading men and women in official, educational, religious, scientific, business and social life, both national and local, acting upon this same Council, and joining hands with the suffrage leaders, suffragists think it plain to see that the end of the long struggle for equal suffrage is in sight.”

Unfortunately, Nellie would not live to see the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment by Congress in June 1919, having died the previous year in April 1918 after a brief illness. In September 1919, Minnesota ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, and by August 1920, the necessary 36 states had ratified the amendment, finally securing women’s right to vote across the country.