Belle Sherwin

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Belle Sherwin was born March 20, 1869, in Cleveland, Ohio. Belle Sherwin was the daughter of Henry Alden Sherwin, founder of the Sherwin-Williams Company and Frances Mary Smith. Belle Sherwin never got married. Belle graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley College in 1890 with a Bachelors degree and then attended Oxford University to study history for one year from 1894-1895. The Western Reserve University granted her an honorary degree in 1930. Denison University gave her an honorary degree in 1931 and Oberlin College granted her one in 1937.

[edit] Accomplishments

She taught history for a short period at St. Margaret's and in 1894-1895 did graduate work at Oxford University. For the next several years she taught at a girls' school in Boston. In 1899 she returned to Cleveland and began her long involvement with voluntary civic and women's organizations. Belle returned to Cleveland in 1900 and became the first President of the Consumers League of Ohio. During the first years of this century Sherwin was most active with the Visiting Nurse Association of Cleveland, serving on its board until 1924, and with the Cleveland Consumers' League, which she had organized in 1899. After World War I, Sherwin became the director of the Cleveland Welfare Federation. Next she became the Vice President of the League of Women Voters from 1921-24 and became its President from 1924-34, the position which earned her much of her reputation as a dedicated suffragist leader. She was also on the board of the National Urban League, founded in 1918. Belle Sherwin passed away on July 5, 1955.