WAUKESHA — The School District of Waukesha may soon have its first facility named after a woman.
The Waukesha School Board this week held the first of two readings on a move to name the Les Paul Middle School cafeteria after Theodora Winton Youmans, a women’s suffrage leader and former Freeman editor.
A district presentation cites Youmans’ commitment to reading and education, perseverance as one of the first female reporters, promotion of women’s progress and role in passage of the Nineteenth Amendment and overall civic engagement as reasons for naming the cafeteria after her.
“Through persistent and innovative leadership, Theodora Winton Youmans forged her own path, gave voice to women’s concerns and inspired a more equitable society,” the district presentation reads.
Former School Board member Diane Voit recalled participating with her daughter last August in the Waukesha County Historical Society and Museum’s Women’s Suffrage Trail tour in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment’s approval, which gave American women the right to vote.
The location of the Les Paul Middle School parking lot today is where Youmans lived with her husband, Henry Mott Youmans — also a Freeman editor — after marrying in 1889 until she died in 1932. Voit said the tour group, upon learning that and observing the cafeteria under construction at the time, said it should be named in Youmans’ honor.
“Before the second reading in June, hopefully the story of Theodora Youmans will become better known in Waukesha,” Voit said. “When students sit at the lunch tables in the Les Paul cafeteria, and look out over the parking lot to where Theodora and her husband lived for 43 years, they will be inspired by her efforts and truly appreciate how hard she worked for the right of women to vote.”
At the Wednesday meeting, Voit said Youmans was one of the most influential women in the fight for women’s suffrage and “made it possible for Wisconsin to be the first state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.”
Youmans wrote an influential column in The Freeman from the 1880s through the 1920s. Her work detailed the fight for women’s suffrage at the local level, those involved and the civic engagement the movement was involved in.
Youmans later wrote a column titled “Votes for Women,” in which she continued the fight, and didn’t hesitate to voice disagreement with those opposed to the movement.
The existing district policy for naming of school facilities states factors of consideration are the prominent person’s contributions to Waukesha area history and/or progress, the level of name recognition in Waukesha history, whether the name is in use now and describes a geographical area of Waukesha, whether the person was a national figure and how the name compares to names of other schools, facilities and properties in the district.
The approval of the name or name change will follow a two-reading process at a regular school board meeting prior to final approval. The first of those readings was Wednesday.
