A commemoration for the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in LeRoy was held on Monday afternoon with the dedication of a historic marker at the Village Hall at 3 West Main Street.
Exactly 100 years ago, on Apr. 2, 1918, ninety-one year old Delia Phillips became the first woman in LeRoy to cast a ballot in an election. Only five months earlier, the men of New York State had voted in favor of women’s suffrage. And although the amendment had been defeated in LeRoy by 38 votes, Delia and other women in LeRoy were prepared to exercise their right in the local village board election.
On Monday afternoon, Lynne Belluscio, Village Historian, along with County Legislator Shelley Stein, Assemblyman Steve Hawley, local politicians, a representative from the League of Women Voters and Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, who is NYS Women’s Suffrage Commission Chair, spoke to a packed house at the Village Hall West Main street where the historic marker for Delia Phillips was erected.
Guests were allowed to vote in an old style voting machine for their favorite flavor of Jell-O and listen to the Rochester Raging Grannies belt out a few tunes about the suffrage movement.
