The minutes of a League of Women Voters, Mankato pre-organizational meeting, held February 22, 1963 reads, “The women present were welcomed by Mrs. E.J. Diefenbach of the Edina League, who had assisted with some of the pre-organzational coffee parties.”  Coffee aside, other members of the Edina LWV quickly got down to business, describing how the League functions, its goals and methods.  After some back and forth, the forty women present voted Mrs. Kenneth (Arline) Brown temporary chairman.  She served for a year and was followed by fellow organizer Barbara Brown.

A similar meeting took place in St. Peter on April 25th of the same year, this one sponsored by members of the Bloomington League.  That gathering quickly elected Mrs. James Hauan president of the newly formed League of Women Voters of St. Peter.  

However, these two events were only the latest iteration of local Leagues.  To get to the beginning, one needs to go back to September 8th, 1919, the day Minnesota ratified the 19th Amendment prohibiting voting discrimination on the basis of sex, and Clara Ueland, first LWV Minnesota president, declared, “Today is the commencement rather than the end of our work.”  

By the end of that year and early 1920 women in Blue Earth and Nicollet Counties were organizing local Leagues.   Those eventually faded.  In the late 1930’s Nicollet County again formed an active League.  Nicollet County Historical Society director, Jessica Becker reports that early members visited farms and registered new women voters.  Lynn Solo, current president of LWV St. Peter, says she once viewed a window sign from those days stating something along these lines: “A Woman in This Household Has Registered to Vote.”  That WW II version of the League also faded.  As noted, the League was reborn in 1963 and twenty five years later both celebrated their quarter century anniversaries.  

In celebration of that anniversary, Betty Nelson wrote in her April, 1988 “Milepost 55” Mankato Free Press column of the earliest Mankato League that, “High on its first list of priorities for study were voter education, environmental concerns such as water quality and government organization at all levels.  Global issues were topped by efforts toward world peace (at that time the League of Nations) and the problems of emerging nations.  All of these are important issues for the League today.”  The same goes for 2019.  

The Mankato League of Women Voters closed in 2009 when its last president moved to Duluth.  Two of its members then joined the League of Women Voters of St. Peter which continues as a vibrant and growing presence in the community.  This non-partisan, yet political organization still encourages citizens to play an active role in government.  Membership is open to anyone sixteen years of age or older.  

[This article appeared originally in the Nov. 21. 2020 edition of The Mankato Free Press. Glimpse of the Past: League of Women Voters has long history in area]