Bertha Ethel Knight Landes (October 19, 1868 – November 29, 1943) was the first female mayor of a major American city, serving as mayor of Seattle, Washington from 1926 to 1928. After years of civic activism, primarily with women's organizations, she was elected to the Seattle City Council in 1922 and became council president in 1924.
Early years
Landes was born in Ware, Massachusetts to Charles Sanford Knight and Cordelia Cutter. Her father, a veteran of the Union Army, moved the family to Worcester in 1873. She attended Worcester's Dix Street School and Classical High School, from which she received her diploma. At the age of 19 she moved to Bloomington, Indiana, to live with her older sister Jessie Knight, whose husband David Starr Jordan had become the president of Indiana University. Bertha enrolled as a student at the University in the fall of 1888. She received a degree in history and political science in 1891, after which she returned to Worcester.
After three years of teaching at her alma mater, the Classical High School in Worcester, Massachusetts, she married geologist Henry Landes on January 2, 1894. Knight and Landes had met as students at Indiana University. The couple had three children, one of whom was adopted. Landes moved to Seattle in 1895 when her husband Henry became a geology professor at the fledgling University of Washington, with the help of a favorable recommendation from Jordan. Henry would go on to become Dean of the College of Sciences in 1912, the University's first.
Civic activism
In Seattle, Landes was active in women's organizations, including the Women's University Club, the Rainier Club, and the Women's Auxiliary of University Congregational Church. She was a member of the influential Women's Century Club, for which she served as the head of social services (1916-17) and then president (1918-1920). She was president of the Washington State chapter of the League of Women Voters.
From 1920-22 Bertha served as president of the Seattle Federation of Women's Clubs, which by 1923 included 245 member clubs representing thousands of women. With the Federation, in 1921 she orchestrated a weeklong Women's Educational Exhibit for Washington Manufacturers. Staffed by more than 1,000 club women and showcasing the technological innovations of 130 manufacturers, it bolstered the spirits of the business community during a period of severe recession, symbolizing for the state's business community the emergence of Seattle as a sophisticated, modern metropolis. One such manufacturer wrote to Landes after the exhibit expressing hope "that someday you will be rewarded by seeing greater prosperity in Seattle, and that you will then feel fully repaid for the untiring efforts you have put forth."
That year, Landes was appointed by the city mayor to serve on a commission studying unemployment, the only woman on the five-member commission.
In 1922, Landes organized "The Women's Civic League" (renamed the "Women's City Club" in 1923). The purpose of the club was to educate women about local, state, national and world politics, and in cooperation with other organizations, to work towards securing the welfare of the city and improving civic conditions. Within a year it had more than 500 members.
Political career
Landes and Kathryn Miracle were the first women to serve on the Seattle City Council; both were elected in 1922. Landes became council president after her reelection in 1924. She became acting mayor in 1924 when Mayor Edwin J. "Doc" Brown left town in June to attend the 1924 Democratic National Convention. Angry at what she saw as police corruption and lawless activity, Landes fired Police Chief William B. Severyns. She began her own law and order campaign, closing down illegal activities throughout the city, including lotteries, punchboards and speakeasies. Upon his return, Brown reinstated the police chief.
When Brown ran for another two-year term in 1926, Landes ran against him, on the platform that "municipal housecleaning" was needed in the Seattle government. Landes easily won the election in March, by more than 6,000 votes.
During her term, she advocated municipal ownership of utilities such as Seattle City Light and street railways. She also fought hard against bootleggers and reckless drivers, and strictly enforced regulations for dance halls and cabarets. The Civic Auditorium, later renovated as the Seattle Opera House, is one of her accomplishments. She appointed qualified professionals to head city departments, improve public transportation and parks, and put the city's finances in order.