Sixth Grade
Worksheets
On The Road With Alice Ramsey
In 1909, Alice Huyler Ramsey was a 22-year old housewife living in Hackensack, New Jersey. On June 9 of that year, Alice and three other ladies piled into a 30-horsepower 1909 Maxwell DA touring car. This adventure was destined to make Alice Ramsey the first woman to drive cross-country.
The idea began as a publicity stunt for the Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Company. The trip was to began in New York City. Their destination was the St. James Hotel in San Francisco.
You may ask yourself, "So, what's the big deal?" Think about the conditions in 1909. For many, the idea of a woman driving at that time seemed preposterous. Women were discouraged from even coming near an automobile. The Nineteenth Amendment had not yet been passed. It would be more than ten years before women had the right to vote. Next, the Maxwell had none of today's automotive comforts. There was no power steering, power brakes, radio, air conditioning, or even a windshield, to say nothing of windshield wipers. It had to be crank-started. Its top speed was 40 mph. The headlamps had to be lit with a match. A carbide generator that sat on the left running board ran the lamps. The roads at that time were nothing more than washed out wagon trails. Few, if any, were marked.
