Alice Kerr, Edmonds’ First Woman Mayor

As the first female mayor of Edmonds, Alice Kerr championed morality and civic order. She served just two years, but is remembered as an early pioneer in female leadership.

Kerr was born in Chicago as Alice Lewis on February 28, 1858. She married James Howard Kerr in 1879. The couple had three children before moving to homestead on the central Nebraska prairie.

The family lived in a dugout home. James worked the land and Alice taught school to her own and neighboring children. It was a hard existence. In the early 1890s, the family left the homestead and moved to Ansley, Nebraska in search of a more comfortable life. They purchased a general store and settled into the life of the town.

The early years of the twentieth century brought increasing reports of limitless resources, fertile land, and tremendous opportunity in the west. The Kerrs were attracted to the forests, mountains and marine air of the Pacific Northwest, and in 1919 left Nebraska for Washington State. They arrived in the booming young city of Edmonds, where Alice found work as assistant clerk of the First Baptist Church. 

Alice flourished in Edmonds. She became increasingly active in the Baptist church, representing Edmonds at the state level. In addition, she was elected president of the Edmonds Coterie Club, a women’s group dedicated to promoting and enhancing local cultural and social life. 

Edmonds in the early 1920s was reveling in its adolescence. The Puget Sound area was booming, and . Frenetic in the surrounding old-growth forests kept the mills supplied. The men of Edmonds worked hard, and in their off-hours they played hard.

Despite the Volstead Act and prohibition, booze from Canada and illegal stills was everywhere. Workers had money to spend, and saloons and pool halls were thriving. But at the same time, more families were locating in Edmonds, p, and to educate the increasing numbers of local children. Something had to give. 

In 1924, a group of citizens approached Alice Kerr and suggested she run for mayor. Decrying unruly public behavior, drunkenness, and poor law enforcement, they convinced Kerr to throw her hat in the ring. She entered the race as a write-in candidate, only two days before the election. A hastily printed single-page flier announced her candidacy. When the results were in, Kerr had upset incumbent Mayor Matt C. Engels by a mere two votes, 161 to 159. She was 66 years old when she took office.

Her two-year administration was marked by construction of a new ferry landing, purchase of a new fire truck, and a number of infrastructure improvements, including and lighting. But it is best known for her unflagging efforts to reverse, regulate and otherwise stem the tide of what she saw as moral laxity. 

Her most controversial act was to veto an ordinance to repeal regulation of pool halls. The current law required licensing of pool halls and imposed certain operating restrictions. Among these was a strict prohibition of minors from the premises. At the behest of a pool hall owner cited for selling candy to a minor, the Council passed a repeal, which Mayor Kerr promptly vetoed. Despite Kerr’s impassioned opposition, her veto was overridden by Council.

No doubt partly due to her strained relations with the City Council, Mayor Kerr declined to run for re-election when her term expired in 1927. She retired from public life, but remained active in the community. Her husband James died on December 15, 1931, and eleven years later her grandson became Edmonds’ first casualty of World War II, losing his life in action in the Philippines. 

Alice Kerr died in Edmonds on August 10, 1949. She was 91. Services were held at the Edmonds Baptist Church. Her name lives on today in Edmonds City Hall, where a second-floor conference room is named in her honor.