Program

National Votes for Women Trail

Subject

Arts & Culture, Government

Location

500 W Las Cruces Ave, Las Cruces, NM 88005, USA

Lat/Long

32.3103, -106.7841

Grant Recipient

National Collaborative for Women's History Sites

Established around 1894, the Woman’s Improvement Association in Las Cruces, New Mexico was a civic organization that sought to change and enhance their local community. The History of the Woman’s Improvement Association describes the goal of the group:

Their main objective and purpose was for general improvement in and about the town of Las Cruces by purchase, construction, laying out an construction of public buildings, parks, libraries, cemeteries, a hearse and other beneficial, useful, ornamental and charitable improvements. It was to be a club with a purpose rather than for social ambitions.

In 1898, the Women’s Improvement Association successfully established Union Park. In the same year they erected a park pavilion which served an many purposes from ice cream parties to concert fundraisers. While the Woman’s Improvement Association worked to advance the community, they also supported woman’s suffrage and in 1917 they sent a telegram to President Woodrow Wilson advocating the passage of the women’s suffrage amendment. Today the Woman’s Improvement Association no longer exists, however as of 2020, the park, now known as Pioneer Women’s Park, remains a legacy of the women who aspired to improve their community and fought for their right to vote.