Where History Votes: Missoula, Montana

The Golden Flyer II arrived in beautiful Missoula, Montana — a city known for its independent spirit, civic engagement, and long tradition of grassroots activism — and felt immediately at home.

Montana holds a singular place in the history of women’s rights. In 1914, Montana voters passed a constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote — six years before the 19th Amendment made voting rights the law of the land nationally. And in November 1916, just a few months after suffragists Alice Burke and Nell Richardson passed through Missoula in the original Golden Flyer, Montana voters elected Jeannette Rankin to Congress — the first woman ever elected to the United States House of Representatives.

She was 36 years old. She had never held elected office. And she walked into Congress carrying a message that the country was only beginning to hear.

Before she was a congresswoman, Rankin was a social worker and activist — a woman who observed life at the turn of the last century with clear eyes and deep empathy for the women, children, and families living without legal protections or economic security. Her early experiences shaped a conviction that justice required direct action, not patience. She organized. She testified. She ran. And she won.

While many know Rankin for her historic election and her courageous votes against U.S. entry into both World Wars, her legacy runs deeper. In 1918, she opened the congressional debate on the constitutional amendment for women’s suffrage — becoming the only woman to vote for the legislation that ultimately led to ratification of the 19th Amendment. She did not simply make history. She made it on purpose.

After Rankin’s death in 1973, she bequeathed part of her estate to help “mature unemployed women workers.” From that bequest, the Jeannette Rankin Foundation was born — created to award scholarships to women college students aged 35 and older with low incomes. One of our gracious Missoula hosts, the Foundation carries her spirit forward in the most practical way possible: by opening doors for women who have spent their lives holding doors open for everyone else.

Surrounded by Foundation photos and quotes from Rankin herself, Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis addressed the gathering with words that connected the past directly to the present:

“Jeannette Rankin did not simply make history by being elected. She used her voice and her vote to advance equality. In 1918, she opened the debate in Congress on the constitutional amendment for women’s suffrage and became the only woman to vote for the legislation that ultimately led to the ratification of the 19th Amendment and voting rights for women nationwide.”

“Her courage opened doors for generations of women leaders who followed — not only in politics, but in business, education, healthcare, philanthropy, and community leadership.”

“Today, Missoula continues that legacy. Women are serving as elected officials, nonprofit leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, healthcare professionals, and advocates working every day to strengthen our community. That progress did not happen by accident. It happened because people before us were willing to speak up, organize, challenge barriers, and imagine a more equal future.” — Mayor Andrea Davis

Then she signed the petition.

Author Jeryl Schriever — who portrays Alice Burke on the Tour — read from her book about the 1916 journey, quoting Alice directly:

“The women of Montana and the west must not forget us. They must remember that they themselves are limited to their suffrage, just as long as there are states in the nation which do not grant suffrage. If they move from Montana into a state which does not grant suffrage, they lose the right to vote.” — Alice Burke, 1916

That warning — spoken in this very city more than a century ago — resonates with striking force today. Montana adopted a state ERA in 1972, one that specifically outlaws sex-based discrimination by both government and private entities. But constitutional equality at the federal level remains unfinished. Alice knew then what advocates know now: a right that exists in one state and not another is not yet a right. It is a geography.

After the Mayors for ERA gathering, supporters joined Mayor Davis for a spirited loop around Missoula in the Golden Flyer II — drawing exactly the kind of attention Alice and Nell always intended. The bright yellow Saxon, impossibly old and utterly improbable, stopped people on sidewalks and pulled them into conversations about constitutional equality. That has been the strategy for 110 years. It still works.

The Tour made a final stop at the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center — founded in 1986 and rooted in the conviction that true peace cannot exist without justice, equity, and the inclusion of all voices. The Center’s work — inspiring and empowering people through education, dialogue, and nonviolent action — is a living extension of Rankin’s belief that a more just world is not a dream. It is a project, requiring daily effort and moral courage.

More than a century after Jeannette Rankin walked into Congress for the first time, her city is still doing the work. And the Golden Flyer II — rolling the same roads Alice and Nell once traveled — is proud to be part of it.

One mile, one conversation, one signature at a time.