Centennial of all-woman council celebrated

SALT LAKE CITY — The women who were part of the first all-woman city council in Utah took office a century ago in January 1912 — eight years before women in the U.S. were allowed the right to vote.

Kanab Mayor Mary Chamberlain; councilwomen Luella Mcallister, Vinnie Jepson (who resigned shortly after taking office), Tamar Hamblin, Sarah Hamblin and Ada Seegmiller (who took Jepson's place on the council) were scheduled to be honored Friday, Jan. 27, at 9:30 a.m. as part of the Rural Utah Day at the legislature.

The women were all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and were initially elected as a joke, as no one registered to run in the election, according to information from the Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area.

However, they took their positions seriously and they served until 1914. Their achievements include ordinances to keep stray dogs and loose livestock from roaming freely in town, a ban on slingshots, provisions for the surveying and plotting of the city cemetery and the overseeing of the construction of bridges for irrigation canals and a dike.