Bertha Ethel Knight Landes (1868-1943) was the first female mayor of a major American city, serving as mayor of Seattle from 1926 to 1928. Bertha vowed to clean up city government, running for mayor on the platform of "municipal housekeeping." She served only one term as mayor but remained a civic leader in such organizations as the Women's University Club, the Woman's Century Club, the League of Women Voters, and the Women's Auxiliary of University Congregational Church.
In this image Grover Tyler, superintendent of the Pacific Air Transport Service, stands in front of his plane with Mayor Landes and James W. Spangler, president of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Tyler piloted the first Los-Angeles to Seattle mail plane on the last leg of its inaugural trip, from Portland to Seattle at Sand Point Field.
Handwritten on verso: President of the Chamber of Commerce - pilot of the first air mail plane from San Francisco and myself receiving a letter for the city of Seattle.
ID Number: 1974.5855.24
Date: 1926
Physical Description: 1 photographic print : b&w ; 7.5 x 9.5 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
Credit: MOHAI, Collection on Bertha Landes, 1974.5855.24
