Book Look: How did 19th century Sioux Falls became the 'Divorce Colony' for wealthy women?
Residents have the urge to have their state become famous for something positive to have bragging rights among other states of the union. In our daily news, we hear assertions of our greatness compared to other states. However, states are much more likely to become famous for their ills than their strengths.
South Dakota is famous for its winters, whether we should be or not. Likewise, Florida for its hurricanes and California for its fires. When do you remember a state becoming famous for having the best tax structure in the nation, the fairest judicial system or the best educational system?
South Dakota became famous in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for favorable divorce laws, which led to our becoming a haven for rich people to come for divorces. For the most part, these wealthy women came to only one location. It wasn't Webster or Watertown, but it was Sioux Falls.
National writer April White found this divorce connection of the nation to Sioux Falls very interesting, thus her book "The Divorce Colony," published this year by Hachette Books. It's 186 pages and sells for $30.
We currently live in a nation where the divorce laws in most states are similar. However, the United States developed east to west. In issues such as divorce, eastern states were influenced by conservative Puritan beliefs, whereas the new western states had more liberal laws for women to attract women to the frontier. Remember, the women's right to vote was led by the western states, Wyoming being the first to grant women the right to vote.
For women to get divorced in most eastern states in the late 19th century, the woman had to prove adultery on the part of the husband. South Dakota had more lenient provisions, including a man calling the woman vicious or ugly names, recognizing the right to have comparable incomes, or spending the wife's inheritance money. South Dakota also had a three-month residency law, whereas most eastern states had a year or more.
There was one hitch: one had to be rich to get a divorce.
Take the case of Mary Cahill, who traveled from her home in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Sioux Falls. First, there would be a first-class train ride of several days. Then, Cahill would have to live in South Dakota for three months to gain residency without a guarantee that the case would make its way through the courts at the end of that time.
There was also the cost of residency. Some women bought a house to live in. Cahill, however, would use the more common method, renting a suite at the Cataract Hotel in Sioux Falls.
The Cataract was the hotel that made Sioux Falls famous in the divorce industry and among the Sioux Falls social set. It was in the heart of downtown Sioux Falls on Phillips Avenue. Cahill had a modest six-room suite in the hotel; some other wealthy women would rent suites up to 12 rooms. Then there would be the waiting, the eating, the shopping and the hiring of carriages for rides.
After a long, unusually cold winter in this very small city on the American frontier, a judge granted Cahill the freedom she sought.
Mary Walsh was a privileged woman. She was a very successful novelist and playwright. After her successful divorce, Mary coined the term "divorce colony" and wrote articles about it so that other rich women looking for a divorce knew they could find their solution in Sioux Falls.
Even more publicity came Sioux Falls's way when a niece of the influential Astor family and the daughter-in-law of the United States secretary of state arrived in Sioux Falls for a divorce. The Astor divorce drew the attention of soon-to-be president Theodore Roosevelt, who felt that easy divorces were ruining the moral integrity of the American family. Roosevelt lobbied South Dakota to tighten its laws.
Whether Roosevelt had any affect, after several high-profile divorce cases, the South Dakota Legislature did tighten its waiting period from three months to six months. However, this change diverted few.
Sioux Falls was the place to go, and the railroad from anywhere east ran to the town.
Most western states had similar laws to South Dakota, so divorce was accessible. Fargo, N.D., tried very hard to wrest the "Divorce Colony" label from Sioux Falls, or at least share it, but to no avail, at least temporarily.
By the early 20th century, the automobile greatly affected marriage and divorce all over America. One did not need a train that went to one location. By 1906, South Dakota's domination of divorce had ended. Reno, Nev., had become the new divorce center. It became No. 1 by making one simple change: six months to 30 days. While the rich women stayed for 30 days in premier hotels, they could also have a new way to pass the time - gambling.
Readers of this book will find that it is not just about divorce. It is about American social changes that have affected all of us.
For December, I will review Michael Connelly's latest crime novel, "Desert Star."
Donus Roberts is a former teacher, an avid reader/collector of books, owner of ddrbooks, and he encourages readers to connect at ddrbooks@wat.midco.net.
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: How 19th century Sioux Falls became the 'Divorce Colony' for women
