Historical Marker · No. 1035

Mary Allen Wright (1868-1948)

Boundary County · Idaho

On February 8, 1899, the Idaho Daily Statesman reported that Wright had taken the chair, the first woman to preside over the Idaho Legislature and perhaps over any legislature; she was also the first woman nominated for a speakership. Her divorce was fought in public. Her husband accused her of keeping improper company with men at Boise hotels during the session and of losing $2,000 on the board of trade; she sued him in turn for slander, showed that he had done little to support her for years, and won the divorce in 1904 on grounds of desertion.

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48.65274, -116.34508 · Directions

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