In 1924, Pensacola resident Fannie Salmons made history as the first woman to be elected to the Escambia County Commission and the first woman commissioner in the state of Florida. One hundred years after Salmons’ groundbreaking election, here’s a look back at her life and legacy.
The story of Fannie Salmons begins in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where she was born around 1892. When she was a young girl, Salmons’ father Frank Salmons, a railroad engineer, moved the family to Pensacola, where they settled in the East Hill area. The family appears in the 1900 Census when she was 9.
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“And, she grows up in the city, moves to Selma (Alabama) for a little bit in her late teens, early twenties,” said Dr. Jamin Wells, associate professor of history at the University of West Florida, picking up the story.
“I don't know if she went to college, but it's possible,” he surmised. “But she came back and took a job as a reporter for the Pensacola News, which was the evening paper here in Pensacola.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in 1920, women made up about 20% of the nation’s labor force, with domestic jobs most common.
“We often think of women not being very active in the workforce, especially white, kind of middle-class women, which Fannie was,” said Wells. “But there were a number of women working as teachers, of course, and nurses, and a good number finding a living as writers and reporters.
Fannie was a ‘bold’ woman of the Suffrage Movement
Salmons came of age during the Women’s Suffrage Movement, which culminated with the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment.
“So we don't know if Fannie, herself, was actively engaged, but she grew up in a community in Pensacola that was very engaged in the women's suffrage movement, led by, Celia Myrover Robinson, a fellow reporter,” he said. “They brought in speakers. There were regular columns in the newspaper advocating for it. And so she grew up in this ferment supporting women's suffrage. I, have no doubt it inspired her to later run for the office.”
At the age of 31, Salmons announced her plan to run for the Escambia County Commission in the spring of 1924.
“She was one of just six women, in the entire state of Florida to run for an elected position that year,” said Wells, noting how uncommon it was for women to run for office at that time, just four years after women were granted the right to vote. “So Fannie was one of a handful. Three of those six were elected in 1924, and she was the only county commissioner in the whole state. And the first woman, elected to represent district one of Escambia County.”
Notably, Salmons received 390 votes to beat out seven men for the seat, which was previously held by T.T. Wentworth, Jr.
“She was bold, obviously a very forward person for her time,” said Mary Bogart Woltersdorf, Salmons’ granddaughter, who lives in Pace.
“Running against seven men in 1924, to do what she did just after women got the privilege to vote, that took a lot of guts.”
Woltersdorf was born one year after Salmons died in 1957, so she never knew her grandmother. But she heard stories and has learned a lot by digging through family archives. Saved from her mother’s attic is a scrapbook that contains old photos and documents, including her grandparents’ marriage certificate. It’s also full of old newspaper clippings.
“I knew that she was the first woman county commissioner, but she sold real estate,” said Woltersdorf. “And, also, I didn’t realize that she was such a writer.”
In addition to Salmons’ work for the Pensacola News, she wrote many poems. One of them was featured in the 2005 UWF/Florida Humanities Council project, “Collard Greens and Artistic Scenes: Stories of Pensacola Women of the 1930s.”
Written in 1934, Fisherman’s Widow was about Salmons’ husband William Bogart, whom she married in 1925, after taking her District One seat.
“She came into office on January 1, 1925, and served for two years in that position. She was in charge of the county courthouse and oversaw the jail,” said Wells.
Her platform in 1924 was road building
Salmons, now known as Fannie S. Bogarts, also concentrated on the building of roads and bridges, advocating for the use of concrete — rather than asphalt — in their construction.
“Fannie is part of this road-building platform, part of this effort going on across the United States, particularly in the American South, to, improve transportation,” said Wells. “And there was a massive, federal infusion of federal money to support road building. Some of the iconic roads of Escambia County were constructed during this time, including Scenic Highway; including Palafox highway, connecting downtown, of course, to Alabama; as well as the two bridges that connected downtown to the beaches.”
Despite the work she was getting done, she decided not to seek reelection, although she remained active in civic organizations. Eight years later, at the height of the Great Depression in 1932, she ran for county commission again but lost.
“She was fondly remembered when she passed away in 1957 at the age of 65, as someone who was successful, a successful politician and leader in Escambia County, and one to be remembered and emulated, as the papers described her,” recounted Wells.
Salmons-Bogart carried the mantle of being the only woman elected to the Escambia County Commission for more than six decades until Muriel Wagner won the District 4 seat in 1986.
Woltersdorf says it was almost 20 years after that board members finally adopted a resolution, put forth by then Commissioner Tom Banjanin, to properly honor her grandmother.
“Yes, we were at the county commission meeting, when they recognized her to put her picture on the wall,” she said of that special moment when a photo of Fannie Salmons Bogart was added to the gallery beside other commissioners throughout Escambia County’s history. “It really was very special.”
