Dr. Alida Cornelia Avery

A graduate of the New England Female Medical College of Boston in 1862, Dr. Alida Cornelia Avery was a professor of Human Physiology and Hygiene as well as a Resident Physician at the newly founded Vassar College from 1866- 1874. In 1874 she moved to Denver, Colorado and is credited with being Colorado’s first woman to practice medicine while also serving as the Superintendent of Hygiene for the state.

In 1876, Avery was elected the first president of the newly founded Colorado Woman Suffrage Association and was a dedicated and inspirational leader in the effort to achieve the right to vote.

She proposed the arguments that women were entitled to the right to vote due to their important responsibilities within the home and that having women vote would “contribute to the triumph of rule by reason over rule by violence.” — Dr. Alida Cornelia Avery