“The year was 1872 when there was
a knock at the door of this house and a
federal marshal arrested Anthony for
voting,” explained Linda Lopata, direc-
tor of Interpretive and Visitor Services
and our guide. “He took her to the police
station on a horse-drawn trolley. The tri-
al was later moved to Canandaigua and
the male-only jury was directed to find
her guilty. She was fined $100 but she
refused to pay.”
FAMILY TRAVEL
— by Deborah Williams
Take A Short Trip To A City Long
Known For Interesting Attractions
R
ochester, our neighbor just a
bit more than an hour down
the Thruway, is known for
its world class, family-friendly cultural
institutions.
Some top attractions including the
Strong National Museum of Play, the
Seneca Park Zoo, the Susan B. Anthony
Museum & House, and the Rochester
Museum & Science Center & Strasen-
burgh Planetarium are currently under-
going celebrations or expansions and
renovations.
This is the year
to celebrate all things
Susan B. Anthony and
women’s suffrage. It is
the 200th anniversary
of Anthony’s birth and
the centennial of the
19th amendment, often
called the “Susan B.
Anthony Amendment,”
granting women the
right to vote.
The New Year’s
Day Rose Bowl Pa-
rade, televised nation-
ally, featured a Suf-
frage Centennial float with hundreds
marching behind, including representa-
tives from the Susan B. Anthony Muse-
um & House. Celebrations are planned
52 WNY Family March 2020
in
Rochester
throughout the year.
A visit to her
National Historic
Landmark
house
brings Anthony’s
story alive. It was
here she lived with
her sister Mary from
1866 until her death
in 1906. It was also
the headquarters of the National Ameri-
can Woman Suffrage
Association. A true rev-
olutionary, she fought
not only for women’s
right to vote but their
right to an equal educa-
tion and their right to
own property.
“Men, their rights
and nothing more:
Women, their rights and
nothing less” was the
banner of their cause.
bune in 1893.
“Organize, agitate,
educate, must be our
war cry…” she wrote in
a letter to Women’s Tri-
Tour leaders actively involve young
visitors in considering the issues that
Anthony was championing.
Visitors can see the bathroom with
the tub where Anthony bathed in cold
water until age 80. She died in her bed-
room at age 86 on March 13, 1906.
A month earlier she attended suffrage
hearings in Washington and gave her
famous “Failure is impossible” speech
at her birthday celebration. Everywhere
she traveled she carried her black alliga-
tor bag filled with her papers, and it is
also on display.
There was a blizzard on the day of
her funeral and yet more than 10,000
people
at-
tended.
A
similar num-
ber placed “I
voted” stick-
ers on her
gravestone
in the city’s
Mt.
Hope
Cemetery on
election day
in 2016. That
event was observed with a recent Jeop-
ardy question.
The Strong National Museum of
Play, upstate New York’s largest year-
round cultural attraction, is currently
undergoing a $60 million expansion
project that will be the centerpiece of the
Neighborhood of Play, an urban devel-
opment that will include a hotel, apart-
ments, retail space, restaurants, outdoor
play space, and a nearby café.
While work is ongoing, the museum
is open and fully accessible. It is easy to
spend the entire day here but be sure to
plan on at least four hours.
The new 90,000 square foot mu-
seum wing will allow it to develop new
exhibits, a high-adventure ropes course,
create new classrooms and provide a
new home for the World Video Game
Hall of Fame and its Women in Games
initiative.