HISTORY FAIRE INFO
This list is available for those looking for a person that has ties to Hamilton County for our History Faire taking place on July 22, 2023.
Our list contains women of Hamilton County for two reasons, #1 we are a women’s history lending library #2 women tend to get overlooked in lists.
Remember you can pick a person or event that has ties to Hamilton County. You can choose someone from this list, a person who lived or visited Ham-Co, it could be a person who you are related to. This list is designed to be a starting point for your research and discovery.
When you are ready, register for the event.
Women of Hamilton County
Lulu Miesse – The reason that the Hamilton County Public Library exists. It was a Carnegie Library. Gal’s Guide has a podcast episode about her.
Beatrice O’Niel (1894-1941) was a correspondent for The Recorder. She started Hamilton County’s only African-American-owned newspaper in 1929. It was called The Future.
Berta Jones (1877-1918) She wrote short pieces before she wrote the play Rashleigh (1901).
Eva Stewart White – wrote letters to the newspaper in 1941 about increasing discrimination in housing, restaurants, and theaters. Some of these places used the word “restricted” in their advertising.
Dr. Joyce Hobson (1851-1939) – The first woman doctor in Hamilton County. Gal’s Guide has a podcast episode about her.
Alice Armstrong (1813-1901) – The first known Hamilton County woman to receive a US patent. Gal’s Guide has a podcast episode about her.
Helen Cromwell “Dirty Helen” is the bartender who would out-swear anyone in town. Gal’s Guide has a podcast episode about her.
Lillian Albertson (1881 – 1962) was an American stage and screen actress and a noted theatrical producer.
Courtney Cox Cole (1971 – 2019) was an American athlete, chiefly known as a basketball player. In 2015 she was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame
Kelly Ann Crull is an American sportscaster and television personality, who has been a digital and on-air contributor for the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Braves, and Atlanta Hawks. She has also worked for Fox Sports and NBC Sports Chicago.
Mekinges Elizabeth Conner (1785 – ca. 1861) was a Lenape woman. “Little is known about Mekinges Conner considering her role in the history of Hamilton County, Indiana. Many articles have been written about her husband William Conner… None of his prosperous business would have been possible without the help of Mekinges and her high status among the Lenape.”
Kit Malone is an American transgender rights activist and educator active in Indiana. As of June 2022, she serves as Advocacy Strategist at the American Civil Liberties Union Indiana chapter, where she leads the chapter’s LGBTQ Rights Project.
Ashley Prange is a professional golfer and winner of the reality television program The Big Break V: Hawaii.
Keeley Kathleen Dowling is an American soccer defender, who is currently the head women’s soccer coach at Colorado State University.
Alice Dye (1927 – 2019) was an American amateur golfer and golf course designer known as the “First Lady” of golf architecture in the United States.
Sarah Elizabeth Litzsinger is an American actress and singer, best known for her career in musical theatre.
Dorothy Marie Mengering (1921 – 2017), better known to Late Night and Late Show viewers as Dave’s Mom, was the mother of late-night talk show host David Letterman and a frequent telephone and live guest on his show.
Mia Riverton is an American film actress and producer, best known for her role in the 2005 film Red Doors.
Avriel Shull (1931 – 1976) was an American architectural designer/builder and interior decorator whose career spanned from the 1950s until her death in 1976. She is best known for her mid-century modern architectural designs, which are especially unusual given the predominantly traditional tastes of mid-century Indiana. Most of Shull’s projects were single-family homes around Hamilton and Marion counties in central Indiana, most notably the homes in Christie’s Thornhurst Addition in Carmel, Indiana. Gal’s Guide has a podcast episode about her.
Sage Marie Steele is an American television anchor who is the co-host of the 12pm (ET) SportsCenter on ESPN.
Stephanie White-Arnold, now Stephanie Amick, is an athlete from the United States who competed in archery.
Margaret Bailey – first woman pilot in the county (Sheridan)
Helen “Nellie” Robinson Loehr – Painting teacher, particularly watercolors. The matriarch of the Hamilton County School of Illustrators. Suffrage leader.
Frances Effinger Raymond – became a prominent California businesswoman.
Sarah Kilgore – the third woman to practice law in the US.
Minnie Levinson – the matriarch of the Levinson family, organizer of the Reading Room, mother of Nobel Peace Prize nominee S. O. Levinson, grandmother of Norman Norell, a beloved figure in Noblesville.
Martha White Talbert – abolitionist, part of the UGRR, suffrage advocate, kept a diary (copy in Indiana Room, original at Indiana Historical Society)
Gal's Guide 