This weeks page from non-traditional womens history: Anna Wagner Keichline (1889-1943) Furniture Maker Inventor Mechanical Engineer Architect Special Agent for the U.S. Army Already showing a flair for building things at age fourteen, Anna won first prize at a county fair for two pieces of furniture she built in her own professionally outfitted model shop. Later, she went on to study mechanical engineering at Penn State, where she was the only female in her class in 1906. The next year, she went to Cornell to study architecture, and was the first female to become a registered architect in Pennsylvania -- and probably among the first in the nation. She can claim design authorship to over twenty-four commercial buildings and residences spanning central Pennsylvania, Dayton Ohio, and Washington D.C. Anna Keichline was also an inventor, and she held seven patents for her work. She published research articles on air conditioning that incorporated her patented Building Block (1927), one of her inventions. She was granted six utility patents and one design patent in all: a Sink for Apartments (1912), a Toy (1916), components for Kitchen Construction (1926), a childs Portable Partition (1927), a Folding Bed for Apartments (1929) and an Air System (1931). Anna was also a passionate Suffragette, and led a nationally organized march in 1913. During World War I, she offered her services to the U.S. Army, citing her skills as follows: Am twenty-eight and physically somewhat stronger than the average. Might add that I can operate and take care of a car. (Anna owned her own automobile.) She added: The above might suggest a drafting or office job, but if you should deem it advisable to give me something more difficult, or as I wish to say more dangerous, I should much prefer it. The U.S. Army took her up on the offer and made her a Special Agent of the Military Intelligence Division in Wasington, D.C. Keichline was compensated $92,000 for her service (in todays dollars). Anna Keichline was honored in 2002 with an official state of Pennsylvania historical marker. It was placed in front of one of her architectural designs, the Plaza Theater, in Bellefonte, PA, which was built in 1925. #tradeswomen #WomensHistoryMonth #herstory #inventors #STEMwomen #WomensHistory
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 13:00:01 +0000
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