Salter, Susanna, 1860-1961

Susanna Madora Salter (née Kinsey; March 2, 1860 – March 17, 1961) was an American politician and activist. She served as mayor of Argonia, Kansas from 1887 to 1888, becoming the first woman elected to serve as mayor in the United States.

Born in Belmont County, Ohio, she moved to Kansas with her parents at the age of 12, settling on an 80-acre (32-hectare) farm near Silver Lake. In 1878, she entered Kansas State Agricultural College (present-day Kansas State University) in Manhattan. She was permitted to skip her freshman year, having taken college-level courses in high school, but was forced to drop out six weeks short of graduation due to illness. While a student, she met Lewis Allison Salter, an aspiring attorney and the son of former Kansas Lieutenant Governor Melville J. Salter. They married soon thereafter and moved to Argonia, where she was active in the local Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Prohibition Party organizations, and became acquainted with nationally known temperance activist Carrie Nation.

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