Sarah Platt Decker
The Denver Public Library’s Decker branch in Platt Park is named for Sarah Platt Decker, who’s largely credited with getting Colorado women the right to vote in 1893 – twenty-five years before the nation extended that right to all women. Sarah Platt Decker had a rude awakening to the need for women’s rights. When she was widowed in Vermont, nearly all her possessions were given to her husband’s family – legally. In disgust, she dropped her husband’s name, remarried and moved to Denver, where she became a champion for women. She elevated notions of women’s work and got women's clubs involved in social services, first in Denver then around the country. Decker even reformed dress codes, so women could wear less restrictive clothing, and helped establish Mesa Verde as a National Park. Some Coloradans wanted her to run for the Senate and even the presidency. But Sarah Platt Decker didn’t live long enough for national office, and died in 1912 at the age of 56.
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