Caroline McCullough Everhard (1843–1902)

 Follow the purple arrows on the signs as you walk

Do you see the main front part of the church, the section made of stone?  Before it was a church, that was the home of our leading lady, Caroline McCullough Everhard.

In 1885, Thomas McCullough, president of Massillon’s premier bank and a member of its board, passed away.  His daughter, Caroline, was named to take his seat on the board, making her the first female bank director in Ohio.  Remember, these were the days when women were rarely even bank tellers!

Five years later, she was elected as president of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association, an office she held for ten years.  During that time, she corresponded with the national women’s suffrage leaders and faithfully saved heir letters in scrapbooks, which are preserved by the Massillon Museum.

During her tenure, she and her organization gained the right for Ohio women to vote for school issues and school board candidates.  She was instrumental in helping her friend, Elizabeth Folger, successfully campaign for Massillon Board of Education in 1900, when she became one of the first women in Ohio to serve on a school board.

Mrs. Everhard also spearheaded the 1890s campaign to gain for Ohio women the right to vote in municipal elections—with the consent of the city councils in individual municipalities.  Unfortunately, Massillon’s city council did not make that leap until after Mrs. Everhard’s death.

Nevertheless, Caroline McCullough Everhard left a marvelous legacy of ladylike leadership.

Directions: Cross Lincoln Way and continue straight north on Sixth Street Northeast for two blocks, keeping Long John Silvers on your right.
As you walk cross North Avenue and pass the spacious green leading to the Salvation Army, know that four schools have stood on that land.  There was a private subscription school before  Massillon Union School was built in 1848, then the beautiful spired North Street School stood  from 1879 to 1922, and finally Longfellow Junior High School until 2006. Betsey Cowles taught at the second of those institutions.