Governor’s Mansion tour showcases women residents across the decades

During Women's History Month, the Governor's Mansion is presenting portraits, artwork, and artifacts from the lives of the women who've lived in the residence.

Members of the public can view them during a free tour March 12. There are four tour times available and registration closes on March 10.

The Governor's Mansion Foundation works with the Department of Enterprise Services (DES), the governor, and his family to organize events and tours in the mansion's public rooms. The foundation organized the exhibit showing the many women who have shaped the executive residence over its 116-year history.

Two women have resided in the mansion while serving as Washington's governor, while more than a dozen first ladies have made the mansion their temporary home.

The mansion's West Corridor displays a hall of chronological portraits of the state's first ladies and women governors, from Sarah Kellogg Ferry (1827-1912), wife of Washington's first governor, Elisha Ferry, to First Lady Colleen Ferguson, wife of Gov. Bob Ferguson.

One of those portraits shows Mary Alma Thornton Lister (1867-1923), described as a collaborator in the work of her husband, Gov. Ernest Lister. Working with the Red Cross during the First World War, Ms. Lister was politically active in her own right in the 1920s after Gov. Lister died.

Built in 1908 and first occupied in 1909, the Governor's Mansion is the oldest building on the state Capitol's West Campus. As part of the State Capitol Historic District, the mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and on the National Votes for Women Trail, a nationwide index of places of historical significance in the campaign for women's right to equal representation.

The Governor's Mansion Foundation is an independent nonprofit that preserves furnishings in the mansion's public rooms and organizes tours.

Learn more about the Governor's Mansion tours.