Harvat, Emma J. (Emma Julia), 1870-1949

<p>Emma J. Harvat (1870–1949) was an American businesswoman and politician, notable as the first female mayor of Iowa City, Iowa, and as the first woman to be elected leader of a United States municipality with a population exceeding 10,000.</p>

<p>Emma Harvat was born in 1870, the ninth of ten children of Joseph and Mary Harvat, who had immigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia in 1854. Emma's father operated a meat market in Iowa City during the 1880s. Joseph and Mary died by 1889. Mary attended the Iowa City Academy and Williams Commercial College, studying business, an unusual field for the time for women. Following her studies, Emma worked at the Lee Welch bookstore as a clerk. By 1902 Emma had accumulated enough savings to buy the shares of John Ries of the Lee and Ries bookstore, and owned the entire operation in another two years. Selling the store for a profit, she moved to Kirksville, Missouri, where she bought and turned around a failing bookstore, going on to buy and sell other businesses in Kirksville and surrounding towns. At the age of 43 Emma was financially secure and she returned to Iowa City to retire.</p>

<p>In Iowa City Emma rented a room from Theresa Stach, the mother of friend Mary (May) Stach. Using an inheritance that Stach had received, Emma and Mary opened a ladies' clothing store in 1913, Harvat and Stach, which became a success. Stach was the store's expert on fashion, and Harvat ran the business. By 1919 Harvat and Stach built a new house, the Emma J. Harvat and Mary E. Stach House, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p>

<b>Emma J Harvat</b><br>
<b>BIRTH</b> 24 Apr 1870<br>
Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa, USA<br>
<b>DEATH</b> 30 May 1949 (aged 79)<br>
Davenport, Scott County, Iowa, USA<br>
<b>BURIAL</b><br>
Saint Joseph Cemetery Old<br>
Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa, USA

Emma J. Harvat was an important historical figure in United States and Iowa history, for in 1922, she became the first woman in the nation to be mayor of a city larger than 10,000. “I believe my experience and training in business won the election for me,” she said. Bringing the female perspective to problems in city government, she immediately separated female and male offenders in the city jail and established a juvenile home. Born in Iowa City in 1870, she was the ninth of ten children of Czechoslovakian immigrants Joseph and Mary Harvat. She started her professional life as a store clerk but quickly advanced to owning her own business, a ready-made dress shop. Later she became involved in real estate, home building, and as a landlord. Her home in Iowa City was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and Iowa City’s Civic Center was designated as “Emma J. Harvat Hall” in 2000. Harvat was an Iowa woman of remarkable vision, professional achievement, and originality who was a pathfinder for civic leaders in our state. She died in 1949. She was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.