Bellingham Then & Now: Axtell House

Today this house is a set of eight apartments, but unlike other centennial homes in the area that have been converted to multi-family housing, the renovations were done early on and by the original owner. Frances Axtell (nee Sevilla Cleveland) was an energetic and remarkable woman, both in the 1926 renovation of her family home and really, in every other part of her life. 

Born in Illinois in 1866, Sevilla Cleveland earned a PhD at the age of 23 and declined an offer to teach at Stanford, preferring the “wildness of the frontier” of what is today Lynden, Washington. She taught Latin and Mathematics, and eventually was the assistant principal. Later, during a tour of Europe, she spent time as a graduate student at the University of Hanover and also took classes in woodworking. (Later, Sevilla would use that skill in carving panels for the staircase and mantels of her home). 

Axtell was incredibly involved in society and politics. She helped found the Aftermath Club (which owned and was housed in Broadway Hall), was a member of several clubs, the first president of the New Whatcom Ladies Cooperative Society, and the chairman of the WA State delegation for the National Convention of Women’s Clubs.

This naturally led Axtell into formal politics, and she was one of the first two women elected to the Washington House:

“Along with Tacoma’s Emma DeVoe, Sevilla led the successful 1910 campaign that restored women’s right to vote, which the WA Supreme Court had struck down in 1887. Bellingham voters rewarded her with election to the WA House of Representatives in 1912.” (source)

Around this time, Sevilla took on her daughter’s name, Frances, as she felt it would be more familiar to her constituents (interestingly, this change was at the advice of her older cousin, former President Grover Cleveland). While at the State Congress, Axtell sponsored several bills and served on multiple committees, focusing on minimum wage legislation, public safety issues and worker’s rights. 

In 1916, Frances ran for a seat in the federal legislature, losing by a narrow margin. The following year, President Woodrow Wilson “appointed Axtell as Vice Chairperson of the US Employees Compensation Commission (1917-1921). At the time she was the only woman ever to be named by any President for such a federal commission.” (source)

Soon after Axtell’s husband died in 1927, Axtell pivoted from the political scene to becoming a parole officer in Whatcom County. 

“Her duties included acting as a probation officer for girls and she was in charge of the Mothers’ Pension Department where she was relentless in extracting child support from absentee fathers.” (source)

In 1942 Axtell left her home on E Maple and moved to Seattle to care for her daughter, and, true to form, she became active in several organizations until her death at 86.

Previously on Bellingham Then & Now: the center of economic power in the Bellingham Bay area shifted northward around the turn of the century.

Sources

“Washington SP Axtell, Dr. William H. and Frances C., House.” National Archives Catalog. Link.

“Axtell House”. City of Bellingham. Link.

Images

Then: “Axtell House”. City of Bellingham. Link.

Now: Cooper Hansley

Blog copy by Tiffany Holden