Becoming “A Lover of the Metropolis,” 1895–1906

Abstract

Rather than grinding to a standstill following defeat at the 1894 New York State Constitutional Convention, city work continued and new organizations emerged. Lillie Devereux Blake and her peers more regularly decided to hold suffrage events in elegant spaces like the Waldorf-Astoria at century’s turn, capitalizing on the city’s haute geography to enhance the movement’s respectability. At the same time, they divided over how to respond to the good government initiatives reconfiguring the metropolitan government. Whether supporting them or remaining ambivalent, many inserted discussion of women’s rights into conversations about improving the municipality. A personal feud between Susan B. Anthony and Lillie Devereux Blake in the succeeding years produced a power vacuum in Gotham at century’s close. The resultant vacuum ensured that Gotham’s campaign would not be bogged down by outsiders’ mandates.