3/14/17

Fell's Mere

Traveling along Florida's County Road 512, you might not even notice the city of Fellsmere, population 5,000. There's a municipal building in the center of town, with a water tower looming overhead. A small assortment of buildings, stores and houses, both old and new, are clustered nearby. Broadway is the main street, the only north-south road not named for a tree. The crossing avenues bear the names of U.S. states.

Despite that relatively unimpressive résumé, the town boasts a pretty sizable claim to fame: In 1915, Fellsmere was the first city south of the Mason-Dixon line to give women the vote. The 19th Amendment, granting the same right nationwide, wouldn't be passed for another five years.

How'd that happen? When the city submitted its charter to the state, the legislature ratified it without bothering to read it. Likewise for the governor when he signed it. What they all overlooked was that the Fellsmere city leaders had included a clause giving women the unrestricted right to vote. And later that same year, in a local election, Mrs. Zena Dreier became the first woman in the south to cast a vote.


Nelson Fell, the town's founder, had a business on Broadway in
New York City and wanted the same business address in Florida.
Hence, the main street being named Broadway.
Fell's house was one block over, just off of New York Avenue.

A mere is a mainly British term for an expanse of standing water; a lake or pool.