Flora Dunlap

February 27, 1872 (age 80)

Pickaway County, Ohio, United States

While visiting a friend in Pittsburgh after graduation, Flora went to the Kingsley House settlement “almost by chance” and was so taken with it that she returned to serve an apprenticeship as a volunteer worker for a year. She then spent a winter at Goodrich House in Cleveland and became a resident at Hull House in Chicago. With famous people coming and going, she found Hull House “a stimulating, an absorbing, and a bewildering place in which to live and work.” In 1904 she accepted the position of head resident at Roadside Settlement House in Des Moines on the advice of Jane Addams, who believed she would have greater autonomy in the West than in the East (Connecticut), where she had another offer. When Dunlap took up her duties, the eight-year-old settlement was located on the second floor of a house on Mulberry near the business district. As the neighborhood grew increasingly commercial, the settlement lost the people it had hoped to serve. The board decided to relocate in the South Bottoms, an area southeast of the capitol cut off from the city by railroad tracks and the Des Moines River. Because of its vulnerability to flooding, land was cheap, and the neighborhood was one of the poorest in the city. After a successful fund-raising campaign, Dunlap oversaw construction of a large, three-story brick building at Seventh and Scott housing club rooms, library, dining room, manual training shop, gymnasium, and bath and laundry facilities. Dunlap considered this new building, which opened in 1906, one of her greatest achievements because it was designed specifically as a settlement house. At Roadside, Dunlap established programs typical of settlement houses elsewhere. There were sewing and cooking classes for girls, manual training for boys, an employment service for women, literary and social clubs, and basketball teams for young men. In a neighborhood where few houses had indoor plumbing, the settlement provided essential washing and bathing facilities-5-cent baths for women and 10-cent showers for men, who could afford to pay more. Recognizing that many women had to earn wages to support their families, the settlement operated a day nursery for children under age five and allowed women to use the laundry not only for their personal use but to take in washing to earn money. The settlement was open to African Americans from the beginning, younger children sometimes participated in mixed groups, while older children and adults met separately. In 1907 Dunlap worked with Jewish leaders to begin settlement work for the Jewish community in Des Moines. When the Jewish Settlement Association employed a Jewish settlement worker later that year, Roadside Settlement provided her room and board and hosted the activities until it became clear that Roadside was too far from the Jewish neighborhood, and activities were moved to a more suitable location. During the two decades she served as head resident of Roadside, Dunlap’s activities extended well beyond the settlement house and its neighborhood. In 1912 she ran for the Des Moines school board, receiving support from the women of Des Moines “irrespective of social position.” Young society women in limousines distributed campaign literature in the fashionable neighborhoods, women’s clubs endorsed her candidacy, and shop girls who belonged to clubs at Roadside Settlement campaigned zealously for Dunlap by leaving candidacy cards in stores, factories, streetcars, and restaurants. Dunlap won, becoming the first woman to serve on the board. As she ended her three-year term, however, she described it as “the most unpleasant and most futile task” she had ever undertaken because none of the other members-all men-would speak or listen to her. One board member called the mothers who attended a meeting “old hens.” Dunlap concluded that the board was not ready for women and decided not to run for reelection. When an amendment to the state constitution giving Iowa women the right to vote was submitted to the voters in 1916, Dunlap led the campaign. The amendment was defeated in a fraudulent election, which Dunlap described in the chapter she wrote on Iowa for the multivolume History of Woman Suffrage. Whether discouraged by the suffrage vote or craving a new field of opportunity, Dunlap resigned from Roadside Settlement in September 1916 to head the Neighborhood Guild House in Brooklyn, New York. In 1918 Flora returned to Roadside Settlement and remained the head resident until 1924, when she resigned but continued her involvement as an active board member. From 1924 to 1930 she lived in Circleville, Ohio, her childhood home. Returning to Des Moines during the Depression, she held several government positions. She moved to Columbus, Ohio, in 1943 to be closer to family as she aged. Flora Dunlap Elementary School in the Roadside neighborhood, named in her honor, was completed before her death on August 26, 1952.

Flora Dunlap

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reformer settlement house

Background

Flora was born on February 27, 1872, in Pickaway County, Ohio, United States; the daughter of Mary Dunlap and Samuel W. Dunlap. She grew up near Circleville, Ohio, United States, where her father was a wealthy farmer.

Education

Flora attended school in Columbus, Ohio, United States, and graduated from Cincinnati (Ohio) Wesleyan College in Delaware, Ohio, United States.

Career

While visiting a friend in Pittsburgh after graduation, Flora went to the Kingsley House settlement “almost by chance” and was so taken with it that she returned to serve an apprenticeship as a volunteer worker for a year. She then spent a winter at Goodrich House in Cleveland and became a resident at Hull House in Chicago. With famous people coming and going, she found Hull House “a stimulating, an absorbing, and a bewildering place in which to live and work.” In 1904 she accepted the position of head resident at Roadside Settlement House in Des Moines on the advice of Jane Addams, who believed she would have greater autonomy in the West than in the East (Connecticut), where she had another offer.

When Dunlap took up her duties, the eight-year-old settlement was located on the second floor of a house on Mulberry near the business district. As the neighborhood grew increasingly commercial, the settlement lost the people it had hoped to serve. The board decided to relocate in the South Bottoms, an area southeast of the capitol cut off from the city by railroad tracks and the Des Moines River. Because of its vulnerability to flooding, land was cheap, and the neighborhood was one of the poorest in the city. After a successful fund-raising campaign, Dunlap oversaw construction of a large, three-story brick building at Seventh and Scott housing club rooms, library, dining room, manual training shop, gymnasium, and bath and laundry facilities. Dunlap considered this new building, which opened in 1906, one of her greatest achievements because it was designed specifically as a settlement house.

At Roadside, Dunlap established programs typical of settlement houses elsewhere. There were sewing and cooking classes for girls, manual training for boys, an employment service for women, literary and social clubs, and basketball teams for young men. In a neighborhood where few houses had indoor plumbing, the settlement provided essential washing and bathing facilities-5-cent baths for women and 10-cent showers for men, who could afford to pay more. Recognizing that many women had to earn wages to support their families, the settlement operated a day nursery for children under age five and allowed women to use the laundry not only for their personal use but to take in washing to earn money.

The settlement was open to African Americans from the beginning, younger children sometimes participated in mixed groups, while older children and adults met separately. In 1907 Dunlap worked with Jewish leaders to begin settlement work for the Jewish community in Des Moines. When the Jewish Settlement Association employed a Jewish settlement worker later that year, Roadside Settlement provided her room and board and hosted the activities until it became clear that Roadside was too far from the Jewish neighborhood, and activities were moved to a more suitable location.

During the two decades she served as head resident of Roadside, Dunlap’s activities extended well beyond the settlement house and its neighborhood. In 1912 she ran for the Des Moines school board, receiving support from the women of Des Moines “irrespective of social position.” Young society women in limousines distributed campaign literature in the fashionable neighborhoods, women’s clubs endorsed her candidacy, and shop girls who belonged to clubs at Roadside Settlement campaigned zealously for Dunlap by leaving candidacy cards in stores, factories, streetcars, and restaurants.

Dunlap won, becoming the first woman to serve on the board. As she ended her three-year term, however, she described it as “the most unpleasant and most futile task” she had ever undertaken because none of the other members-all men-would speak or listen to her. One board member called the mothers who attended a meeting “old hens.” Dunlap concluded that the board was not ready for women and decided not to run for reelection. When an amendment to the state constitution giving Iowa women the right to vote was submitted to the voters in 1916, Dunlap led the campaign. The amendment was defeated in a fraudulent election, which Dunlap described in the chapter she wrote on Iowa for the multivolume History of Woman Suffrage.

Whether discouraged by the suffrage vote or craving a new field of opportunity, Dunlap resigned from Roadside Settlement in September 1916 to head the Neighborhood Guild House in Brooklyn, New York. In 1918 Flora returned to Roadside Settlement and remained the head resident until 1924, when she resigned but continued her involvement as an active board member.

From 1924 to 1930 she lived in Circleville, Ohio, her childhood home. Returning to Des Moines during the Depression, she held several government positions. She moved to Columbus, Ohio, in 1943 to be closer to family as she aged. Flora Dunlap Elementary School in the Roadside neighborhood, named in her honor, was completed before her death on August 26, 1952.

Membership

Flora was a member of the Polk County emergency relief committee and head of the Polk County women’s division of the Works Progress Administration.

Dunlap served as legislative chair of the Iowa Federation of Women’s Clubs, from 1913 to 1915.

Federation of Women’s Clubs , United States
In 1913, Dunlap won the presidency of the Iowa Equal Suffrage Association, and held the office until 1916.

Iowa Equal Suffrage Association , United States
In 1916, Dunlap was head the Neighborhood Guild House in Brooklyn, New York, United States.

Neighborhood Guild House , United States
In 1919, Dunlap became the first president of the fledgling Iowa League of Women Voters, serving a one-year term, from 1919 to 1920.

Iowa League of Women Voters , United States
Dunlap was elected head of the Polk County Women’s Democratic Club, in 1922 and again in 1940.

Polk County Women’s Democratic Club , United States
In 1917 and 1918 Dunlap was the regional director of the girls division of the War Camp Community Service.

Girls division of the War Camp Community Service

Connections

Father:: Samuel W. Dunlap
Mother:: Mary Dunlap

References

The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa Iowa has been blessed with citizens of strong character who have made invaluable contributions to the state and to the nation. In the 1930s alone, such towering figures as John L. Lewis, Henry A. Wallace, and Herbert Hoover hugely influenced the nation’s affairs.
2008

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Flora Dunlap

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Born

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1904

1912