GREEN RIVER – The 100th anniversary of Nellie Tayloe Ross’ inauguration as the first woman governor of both Wyoming and the United States was will be recognized as Nallie Tayloe Ross Day Jan. 5, 2025 following a proclamation signed by Gov. Mark Gordon.

A ceremony involving Gov. Mark Gordon reading the proclamation took place Friday at the Sweetwater County Courthouse. Students from Bridgette Nielsen’s social studies class, who helped draft the proclamation, were in attendance as well, along with county residents and other elected officials.

Ross is a prominent figure in Wyoming and United States history. Originally a kindergarten teacher, she was elected governor of Wyoming during a special election in 1924 following the death of her husband, William Bradford Ross, who was the previous Wyoming governor. Nielsen said Ross championed education and tax relief for farmers during her time as governor. She would only serve two years and was defeated in the 1926 election. Nielsen said Ross later attributed the loss to her support of prohibition. According to a media release from the Sweetwater County Historical Museum, people also believe her loss was also due to a refusal to campaign for herself.

The two-year period as governor would not be the only public service Ross was known for. She was appointed the first director of the United States Mint in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This would be post she continued to serve in for 20 years, serving under Roosevelt and Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower. She retired in 1953 and continued to travel extensively and write for women’s magazines. She died in 1976 at the age of 101 and was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Cheyenne.

The proclamation was originally Sweetwater County Historical Museum Board Member Randy Walker’s idea. Walker said the idea came because of Ross’ accomplishments where important historical events that deserved recognition. The proclamation project was taken up by Nielsen’s social studies class at Green River High School, who studied Ross’ life and other proclamations to determine how it should be written. The group received praise from both Gov. Gordon and Ross’ great granddaughter Nellie Tayloe Sanders, the current Oklahoma Secretary of Education. Sanders provided a brief video message thanking the students and state officials for commemorating Ross’ accomplishments.

“You embody what the Equality State means,” Sanders said.

“This is a day we will rmeember for the rest of our lives,” GRHS student Kyle Gonzales said.

Prior to issuing the proclamation, Gordon said Wyoming giving women the right to vote was novel in that other states that granted that right would later rescind it, with Wyoming never taking that right away. He said lawmakers had a disastrous territorial election in 1868 where people got into fights and prevented others from going to polling locations. Including women in the voting process was seen as a way of ensuring a more peaceful election, with Gordon saying that the election in 1869 was a model election in part because women were involved. He also said lawmakers made a toast after the state’s constitution was signed, saying former Governor Cliff Hansen remembered what was said for that toast.

“Here’s to women, first our superiors, now our equals,” Gordon said. “It’s all true, we are all equal.”

Gordon said the constitution, when submitted to Congress to admit Wyoming as a state, was sent back to Cheyenne because lawmakers in Washington, D.C., did not like the idea of women being able to vote. The Wyoming Legislature nearly rescinded that right when it re-examined the constitution, with only a single vote preserving the right.

“The letter that was sent back to Congress said we will wait a hundred years, but we are coming with our women,” Gordon said. “And if you look at the history of this state … women who are here today who are sponsoring this, demonstrate what made this state what it is.”