1912 (1)

The Euclid Avenue storefront bustled with women organizing themselves into ward captains and precinct workers, ready to campaign for the right to vote. On Sept. 3, 1912, at polling places in Cleveland, Lakewood and beyond, they sat in rocking chairs and on stools, unfurled bright yellow "Votes for Women" banners and handed out leaflets asking men to vote for women's suffrage. "I'm in favor of it," one Cleveland man told a poll worker, "but I can't vote for it. My wife won't let me."

Ohio men voted no, 53 percent to 47 percent, but victory was near. Florence Allen, the woman holding the "Votes for Women" flag in the picture, learned the rigors of campaigning that summer. The 28-year-old law student gave 92 speeches across Ohio — including at a county fair, a band concert and a circus — arguing for women's rights while fending off frequent hecklers. The day after the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote and hold office in August 1920, Allen launched her campaign for Cuyahoga County judge. She won and went on to become our first female state Supreme Court justice in 1922 and a federal appeals court judge in 1934.