By Kerri Rempp, Director of Tourism, Discover Northwest Nebraska
A Dawes County monument received a refresh this month with updated signage recognizing the contributions of women to Dawes County and the City of Chadron over the years.
Located on the north side of the Dawes County Courthouse square is an unassuming monument dedicated to one of Chadron’s earliest residents and a prominent businesswoman, Mary E. Smith-Hayward.
The Chadron Business and Professional Women’s Club named her an honorary member and dedicated the courthouse square to her. Two memorials – a rock memorial on a concrete slab and a concrete bench – recognize Smith-Hayward and the organization.
Smith-Hayward was born in Pennsylvania but became a prominent figure in Chadron after she struck out on her own in 1885. After arriving in Nebraska she took a claim west of Chadron and also opened a dry goods business in town (her building is located on 2nd Street and his part of the Downtown Historical District). She was president of the Nebraska Women’s Suffrage Association in the 1890s and refused to pay taxes in 1895 to protest women’s inability to vote.
She represented Nebraska in the Women Suffrage Parade in Washington, D.C., in 1913, marching with 8,000 other attendees. Smith-Hayward was also an animal rights activist and a lifelong member of the Humane Society.
She came out against the famed Chadron-Chicago Horse Race in 1893 and once had a man arrested for beating his horse. She also worked to beautify the courthouse square so it’s appropriate that the Chadron Business and Professional Women’s Club honored her with its dedication.
The plaque on the stone monument had faded with time, however. This month, Dawes County worked with Engraver’s to create a new plaque for the monument and invited Chadron High School students to participate in a ribbon cutting hosted by the Chadron Chamber of Commerce in re-dedicating the monument. Students representing the Career and Technical Education organizations at Chadron High were on hand to affix the new plaque in place and cut the ribbon. Groups represented by the students included FBLA, Family and Consumer Leaders of America and FFA.
“This is our future and this is our future coming up,” said Commissioner Jake Stewart during the event. “This is the cornerstone of county government.”