FELLSMERE — In five years, the rest of the nation will mark the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which gives women the right to vote. That will be five years after Fellsmere’s celebration, having been ahead of the times and the country.
Friday marked the day 100 years ago when the Florida Legislature approved Fellsmere’s request to become an incorporated city, paying no attention to the provision that was slipped in, granting women the unrestricted right to cast ballots in Fellsmere municipal elections.
Mayor Susan Adams, addressing a full auditorium in City Hall, laughed, telling the audience that they should always read before they sign, though “I’m glad, in this case, that they didn’t!”
Adams’ mother, Fran Adams, who once served on the Board of County Commissioners, enlightened the audience as to the rationale for giving Fellsmere women voting rights.
She noted that the city’s founder, E. Nelson Fell hailed from New Zealand, which had already granted women the right, realized that it would be difficult for his Fellsmere Farms Company to continue conducting its business in New York if they had to return to Fellsmere for elections.
“It was difficult to get business done,” Adams said. Allowing women to vote, in theory, would allow the men to stay in New York – trading on the exchange – and still get the city’s business done through their wives’ votes.
“Don’t you wonder what she was thinking?” Adams asked, referring to Zena Dreier, the first woman to cast a ballot in Fellsmere. She mused that Dreier’s husband probably told her how to vote and wondered if she followed her husband’s recommendation or if she cast her own ballot.
“Don’t ever take for granted your right to vote,” Adams said, instead take advantage of it and impress upon the youth how important voting is.
Mayor Adams said after the celebration that being able to mark the occasion and serve as the City’s mayor at the time gives her chills.
“It is awe inspiring,” she said, adding, “It just speaks volumes” for the city’s founders, their foresight into the importance of making women equals in the community.
For as much as was made about women in politics and the significance of equal voting rights, Mayor Adams said the men, too, need to be remembered for their role in recommending and supporting the provision in the city’s charter.
“This is a momentous occasion,” said North Indian River County resident Maureen Minard-Schwab, who attended the ceremony with Joe Schwab. She pointed to the City’s progressive stance on women’s rights, adding “Fellsmere is still a progressive beacon in the county.”
Minard-Schwab took a minute to examine a 1957 Shoup Voting Machine, which was donated to the City of Fellsmere by the Indian River County Historical Society.
She said seeing the 600-pound behemoth brought her back to a day when she was a mere seven years old, going to the polling place with her mother and her little brother. There, her mother cast a vote, huddled with the two kids behind the heavy curtain that automatically opened and closed.
“It was just like a flash,” Minard-Schwab said of the memory-invoking sight.
As for her own first vote, she recalled using a paper ballot – not such a “daunting” machine.
But for Zena Dreier, her vote was cast on a simple piece of paper and placed in a wooden ballot box, hand counted with all the others, there were no automated voting machines, no punch cards, no digital touch screens.
“We have come a long way and I can only imagine the selfies we’ll take in elections to come,” former Commissioner Adams said, drawing chuckles from the audience.
Supervisor of Elections Leslie Swan did tell the audience that more changes to voting equipment are on the horizon and to “stay tuned.”
