Grace Wilbur Trout was a remarkable Oak Park woman who led the successful fight to make Illinois the first state east of the Mississippi River to grant its women the right to vote in national elections. Mrs. Trout's activities resulted in presidential suffrage for the 1.6 million women of Illinois in 1913, seven years before the Nineteenth Amendment.

She was also instrumental in ensuring the passage of a state constitutional convention, which drafted a state constitution that guaranteed women equal rights. She certainly deserves to be celebrated!

The life and accomplishments of Grace Wilbur Trout are presented in the new book The Woman Who Never Fails: Grace Wilbur Trout and Illinois Suffrage, written by Carolyn Poplett with Mary Ann Porucznik, published by the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest.