Lake City's Anna Underwood helped open State Fair gates to women

Back in 1896, the Great Minnesota Get-Together had just one bathroom for women — "crude and in bad condition," according to one writer — reflecting what was then a male-dominated State Fair.

"Although there was much being done for the education, profit, and amusement of men, there was but little to attract the women and children outside of the grandstand," according to that 1910 history book. "There were very few exhibits that would interest them except in a general way … no place where any one could sit and rest after tramping for hours, and at the same time witness or listen to something that would prove interesting and entertaining."

Enter Anna Bingham Sargeant Underwood, who managed a fruit orchard in Lake City, Minn., fought for women's right to vote and was largely responsible for making the State Fair female-friendly.

"Throughout her life, Anna Bingham Underwood was an advocate for the betterment of women, children, families and rural communities" and left "an indelible imprint" on the State Fair, according to Katie Himanga.

Himanga, 63, is an arborist and former mayor of Lake City whose research for the local historical society includes an Underwood biography on YouTube .

Himanga noted that Underwood Street, the fairgrounds' north-south main drag, was named for Anna's husband of 51 years, Joseph Merritt Underwood. He served on the executive board of the Minnesota State Agricultural Society, operator of the State Fair, for 14 years.

"But her contribution to the State Fair was equivalent to his," Himanga said.

Himanga pointed to an 1899 Minneapolis Tribune article headlined "Woman's part in the fair" in which Anna Underwood discussed her plan to open a central headquarters at the fair where women could network.

"It will be a splendid opportunity to form each other's acquaintance," Underwood said, a way "of giving and receiving the best thoughts and ideas gained through experience."

An August 1909 Tribune story on the Minnesota Federation of Women's Clubs (MFWC), an influential civic group in which Anna Underwood was active, featured her picture and said the federation's "untiring energies" had helped boost female fair attendance.

"In early years the state fair was not considered a place where women could congregate," the article read, crediting Underwood's leadership for establishing a women-run emergency medical clinic, nursery "and the interesting, helpful series of lectures, music and demonstrations."

The next month, the Tribune reported that Underwood had "been instrumental" in adding State Fair programs for farm girls, including sewing and cooking classes and school exhibits.

"During fair week, Anna acted as presiding hostess," Himanga wrote last year in a biographical essay for the Minnesota Historical Society. She explains how Anna Underwood worked through the MFWC to play a key role in organizing musical performances, educational programs and exhibits of women's handiwork.

"State fair organizers recognized what Anna believed was possible when she began in 1897; the growth of interest in the state fair by women was good for them, and good for the state," Himanga wrote.

Born Dec. 9, 1846, in Hampton, N.Y., Anna Sargeant was descended from Revolutionary War figures. Her father, attorney Martin Wheeler Sargeant, brought the family to Winona in the mid-1850s, was a Union paymaster during the Civil War and served as a Minnesota legislator and Winona's first mayor. He died suddenly at 43 in 1866.

Anna studied at the Winona Normal School (now Winona State University), and the 1870 federal census lists her as a school teacher. After she married Merritt in 1871, the couple settled upriver in Lake City.

"Anna loved plants, was a student of botany, and gained an enviable reputation in Lake City as a gardener and florist," Himanga wrote, describing how she turned a family orchard into a commercial enterprise that shipped fruit by rail to customers.

Anna Underwood was active in the women's suffrage movement. When Minnesota permitted women to vote in school board elections, she cast a ballot in 1874 — nearly 50 years before the 19th Amendment was ratified.

She was active in the Minnesota State Horticultural Society and Lake City's Improvement Club, which helped develop city parks (Underwood Park is named for the couple), public spaces and Lake City's Lakewood Cemetery.

Her family life was punctuated by grief. The couple lost their 2-year-old son Jewell, who had eaten some unripe fruit, in 1877, just minutes after Anna gave birth to his brother, Roy. A third son, Max, died before his first birthday in 1880.

Anna Underwood, who died in 1929 at 82, has no living descendants. Himanga said her home in Lake City has been demolished, her orchards abandoned and her gravestone is missing in the family plot at Lakewood Cemetery.

"While remembrance of Anna's influence has faded in Lake City," Himanga wrote, "evidence of her work survives." Remember to think of Anna Underwood when you enjoy the fair this week.

Curt Brown's tales about Minnesota's history appear each Sunday. Readers can send him ideas and suggestions at mnhistory@startribune.com. His latest book looks at 1918 Minnesota, when flu, war and fires converged: strib.mn/MN1918.