Bertha Knight Landes, Seattle, ca. 1925

In 1926, Bertha Knight Landes was the first woman to be elected mayor of a major American city when she became mayor of Seattle. She vowed to clean up city government, running on the platform of "municipal housekeeping." She served only one term as mayor but remained a civic leader in such organizations as the Women's University Club, the Womans Century Club, the League of Women Voters, and the Women's Auxiliary of University Congregational Church. Born in 1863, Ella McBride began working in the photography field in 1909 when she managed the Edward Curtis Studio. She opened her own studio in 1917 with Wayne Albee. Albee moved to San Diego in 1925, and McBride continued to operate a studio in various Seattle locations. In 1932 she partnered with Richard Anderson; they continued to work together until she retired in 1954 due to her failing eyesight. She died in 1965 at the age of 102. Handwritten on sleeve: Landes. Caption by MOHAI staff. *Subjects (LCTGM): Mayors--Washington (State)--Seattle *People: Landes, Bertha Knight, 1868-1943

Date

c. 1925

Photographer / author

McBride & Anderson Photographers

Archive

Wikimedia Commons

Type

photograph

Original size

476 × 600 pixels

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