Susan B. Anthony, pioneer leader for women’s rights, lived in this house at 17 Madison Street in Rochester, NY, from 1866 until her death in 1906. When she was not crisscrossing the county campaigning for woman suffrage, she was here, writing and organizing.
It was in this red brick house, shared with her sister Mary, that Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting in 1872. Here, in the parlor, she met and strategized with famous reformers Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Ida B. Wells Barnett, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and so many other workers for women’s rights. In the third floor workroom, Susan B. Anthony helped write and edit the monumental History of Woman Suffrage with Stanton, Gage, and later Ida Husted Harper. During the 1890s, this house served as the campaign headquarters for the National American Woman Suffrage Association when Susan B. Anthony was its president. What happened in this house changed the world!
Many thanks to Walter Colley for his photography.
17 and 19 Madison Street
17 Madison Street Front Parlor–In this room Susan B. Anthony was arrested by a U.S. Marshall for voting in the 1872 election. She hoped to prove that women had the legal right to vote under the provisions of the recently passed 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution. At her trial, a hostile federal judge found her guilty and fined her $100, which she refused to pay.
At the front of the house on the first floor, one of the most historically significant rooms in the house
17 Madison Street Back Parlor: Friends and reformers gathered here to work on campaigns and plot strategy. Frederick Douglass' picture is on the mantel. It was Anthony's custom to keep a picture of her close friend and co-worker in the anti-slavery and womens' rights movements here.
The Back Parlor features a reproduction wall paper based on photos from the time Susan B. Anthony lived at 17 Madison Street.
17 Madison Street – Dining Room. The wallpaper was restored matching it to photos of the interior taken in the 1890s
This room features lithographs of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, reminders of their friendship and collaboration
17 Madison Street Guest Room – This room has served several different functions, but today it is the guest room, displaying portraits of Lucy Read Anthony and other close friends and women’s rights campaigners who stayed overnight in the Anthony home.
This Guest Room hosted many key suffragists of the day
Mary Anthony's Bedroom – displaying the furniture which belonged to Mary, Susan's younger sister. Mary was an ardent suffragist in her own right.
This narrow bedroom displays Mary's furniture.
Second Floor Study – Susan B. Anthony's study, and one of her favorite rooms. The wallpaper is based on photos of the room from Susan B. Anthony's lifetime
At the top of the stairs on the second floor
Susan B. Anthony's Bedroom – In this room, Susan B. Anthony died in 1906, one month after giving her famous “Failure is Impossible” speech. The room contains the original furniture and many artifacts.
Her modest room featuring the original furniture
The Third Floor Workroom – The third floor of the House was added in the 1890s to provide a workspace for Susan B. Anthony and all the women there working on The Cause. It was here that Ida Husted Harper wrote “The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony.”
Workroom added in the 1890s
17 Madison Street Front Door
Welcome to 17 Madison Street, home of one of the world's great revolutionaries!