First Woman Mayor in Wyoming

The panel's first is Wyoming's, and only Wyoming's. Wissler won by a nine-vote majority after residents unhappy with the sitting mayor urged her to run; claims that she was the nation's first woman mayor are wrong, since Susanna Salter had been elected in Argonia, Kansas, in 1887. The state's own lists disagree on her year, 1911 or 1912. Nine years later Jackson went further, electing Mayor Grace Miller and an all-woman council on May 11, 1920, though Oskaloosa, Kansas, and Kanab, Utah, had elected women's councils before it.

What the plaque says

First Woman Mayor in Wyoming Mrs. Susan Wissler, on May 9, 1911, was elected mayor of Dayton, Wyoming, then a community of about 175 people. She served two terms of two years each. Her administration was marked by civic improvement and community betterment as her campaign promise to curb gambling and regulate the operation of saloons was, in a measure, fulfilled. Mrs. Wissler was truly a pioneer. She taught in the public schools of this area for several years and actively encouraged her students to go on for further study. A practical nurse she is remembered for her ministrations in time of trouble. She also owned and operated a millinery and drygoods store for a number of years. Dayton became her home in 1890. She died in 1938. Erected 1965 by the Wyoming State Archives and Historical Department and the Wyoming State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Connor Battlefield State Historic Site — 5.3 mi
  In 1865 General Connor's troops attacked Black Bear's Arapaho village here while many of its men were away; women and children died with the warriors.
• Trail End State Historic Site — 15 mi
  A Texas trail hand's Flemish Revival mansion, five years in the building, that he barely lived in once Wyoming sent him to the governor's office and the Senate.
• Sheridan Inn — 16 mi
  A hunting-lodge hotel with sixty-nine gables, where Buffalo Bill is said to have auditioned Wild West acts from the porch.
• Rosebud Battlefield State Park — 28 mi
  The ridges where Crook's column was stopped eight days before the Little Bighorn, remembered by the Cheyenne for one woman's ride.

More markers nearby

• Tongue River Crossing — 2.2 mi
• Bozeman Trail — 2.2 mi
• The Battle of Tongue River — 5.2 mi
• Connor Battlefield State Park — 5.3 mi