Jonathan Cohen's photos with the keyword: Elizabeth Cady Stanton

In May 1851, there was a chance encounter on the streets of Seneca Falls which forever altered the struggle for women’s rights. Amelia Jenks Bloomer introduced Susan B. Anthony to Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The friendship that was forged between Stanton and Anthony gave direction and momentum to the seventy-two year struggle for women’s suffrage which culminated on August 26, 1920 in the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United states Constitution. Neither woman lived to see this happen. This montage of sculptures is the work of A.E. Ted Aub.

The Wesleyan Chapel was built in 1843. On July 19 and 20, 1848, the First Women’s Rights Convention was held here. Even though Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the only one of the five organizers to live in Seneca Falls, the Wesleyan Chapel was well known to them all. The church was a local haven for antislavery activity, political rallies, and free speech events. The original red brick Wesleyan Methodist Church was sold by the congregation in 1871 and extensively altered by subsequent owners. When the site was purchased by the National Park Service in 1985, very little original fabric remained. Since then the building has been restored to its original appearance.

Call me cynical, but when we visited Seneca Falls – the site of the world's first women’s rights convention in 1848 – I couldn’t help feeling that the economic base of the town had shifted from textiles to feminist tourism. It was only when I returned home that I found out that the old Seneca Knitting Mill, which dates to 1844, is to be the new home of the National Women’s Hall of Fame. The Knitting Mill was owned for over 40 years by the Souhan family. In 1995 the mill was sold to Ridgeview, that closed the mill in 1999 with the loss of some 250 jobs. The owners, who had invested millions of dollars in Seneca Falls, said they couldn’t make a profit on the subsidiary, which specialized in making heavy, woolen socks. In an interview with the Syracuse Post-Standard, Tim Souhan said that in 1999 the economic conditions in Seneca Falls weren’t the greatest. "If there’s a growth industry here, it’s tourism," he added. The Hall of Fame was founded in 1969 and has some 247 inductees so far. Nine more American women, including House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, will be inducted later this year.