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.

In April 1887, just weeks after Kansas women had gained the right to vote in city elections, men in Argonia nominated Salter on the Prohibition Party ticket as a stunt with the intent of humiliating women and discourage them from participation in politics.. Because candidates did not have to be made public before election day, Salter herself did not know she was on the ballot before the polls opened. When, on election day itself, she agreed to accept office if elected, the Women's Christian Temperance Union abandoned its own preferred candidate and voted for Salter en masse. Additionally, the local Republican Party Chairman sent a delegation to her home and confirmed that she would serve and the Republicans agreed to vote for her, helping to secure her election by a two-thirds majority.

Although her term was uneventful, her election generated national interest from the press, sparking a debate regarding the feasibility of other towns following Argonia's lead, which ranged from objections to "petticoat rule" to a "wait-and-see" attitude. As compensation for her year's service, she was paid one dollar. After a year in office, she declined to seek reelection. Following her term as mayor, Salter and her family continued to live in Argonia, until 1893 when her husband acquired land on the Cherokee Strip in Alva, Oklahoma (then Oklahoma Territory). Ten years later, they moved to Augusta in Woods County, Oklahoma Territory, where her husband practiced law and established the Headlight newspaper. The Salters eventually joined the town's settlers in moving to Carmen, Oklahoma. Following her husband's death in 1916, she moved to Norman, Oklahoma, accompanying her younger children during their studies at the University of Oklahoma. She lived in Norman for the remainder of her life and maintained an interest in religious and political matters.

Salter died in Norman and was buried next to her husband in Argonia Cemetery.