Catt.org is the home of suffragette Carrie Catt in Charles City, Iowa
Title
Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home
Description
A classic example of Victorian architecture and utilitarian design, the Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home is located about three miles southeast of Charles City, Iowa, a farming and manufacturing community of 8,000 midway between Minneapolis and Des Moines. The home today is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and has been restored at the direction of the National 19th Amendment Society, a volunteer, non-profit organization based in Charles City. Recently-completed projects include the front porch and wildflower prairie garden and a new brick walkway.
In 1865 and 1866, Lucius Lane - Carrie’s father - constructed the first section of the home prior to his family’s arrival from Ripon, Wisconsin. Seven-year-old Carrie, her nine-year-old brother Charles, and their mother Maria Clinton Lane lived in another house in town during construction, and moved into the modest but handsome home in 1866. Later additions, completed by about 1875, give the home its appearance today. Lucius Lane, seeking to accommodate his family on the rugged prairie frontier, built the brick structure with enclosed, hollow exterior walls to provide efficient insulation for heating and cooling during each of Iowa’s four robust seasons.
During the next 11 years, Carrie lived with her family at the farm. In 1877, she graduated from Charles City High School and enrolled at the state’s agricultural and science college in Ames. Carrie’s ties to the home remained strong, however, as she continued to visit her family. In 1885, at age 26, Carrie married Leo Chapman in a wedding ceremony in the Lane home’s living room (the east addition). Six years later, in 1891, the Lane family sold the property and moved into a house on Ferguson Street in Charles City. That house also remains at its original location today.
Contact
- National Nineteenth Amendment Society
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- Charles City IA
- United States 50616
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- +1.6412283336
