In 1897, real estate huckster Silas “Si” Drake bought up a farm on the outskirts of Plainfield, New Jersey, and broke it up into building lots for a new town, which he called Lincoln. His intentions were lofty — Abraham Lincoln was his inspiration.
Obviously not one to shy away from famous people, Drake also wrote to Admiral George Dewey, the Spanish-American War hero, requesting to adopt his surname as his middle name. The Admiral consented, and thus Si became Silas Dewey Drake.
In short order, Silas D. Drake elected himself mayor of Lincoln. His town was in Middlesex County, about 28 miles south of New York City, and situated on two rail lines. His Lincoln Land Company began selling the 1,000 lots he’d carved out of the 60-acre Nelson Runyon farm. He intended the town to rival factory towns like Plainfield. He boasted that he would bring three factories to Lincoln, one of which would employ 500 men. He even petitioned the state legislature to move the state capital from Trenton to Lincoln.
A huckster or a visionary?
It’s easy to laugh at Drake. He was boastful and arrogant, and his ambitions overreaching. “He is a little man, bubbling with energy, horse sense and chivalry,” the newspapers said.* He endorsed products like Paine’s Celery Compound, a supposed cure for everything from nervousness and sleeplessness to “derangements of the liver and kidneys.”**
But when he founded Lincoln, Drake also experimented with some forward-looking social engineering. He declared Lincoln “A Town for Women” and named three women to the six-person town council: Emma Egel, president, and members Olivia Hazard and Mattie Moore.
This is where Abraham Lincoln comes in.
“I go for all sharing the privileges of the government, who assist in bearing its burdens,” Lincoln once said.***
Taking that to mean that women have a rightful place in government, Si said of his shiny new town:
“We want to practically demonstrate to the world that with municipal affairs in the hands of women the common good, the best interests of the community, will be served.”****
“It’s no longer necessary to go West, young woman!” crowed the newspapers.
Two steps back
The newspapers felt it necessary to point out that the three councilwomen were not college educated, and they had never been particularly interested in woman suffrage or women’s rights. They didn’t ride bicycles (bicycles! the horror!) nor did they wear “ultra gowns.” (Someone please explain to me what those garments were!) They were property owners, or the daughters of property owners (men) and “physically wholesome, well bred and domestic, rich in energy, enterprise and common sense.”
Predictably, not everyone was on board with Drake’s vision. Two of the men on the council resigned, not willing to serve with women. Undaunted, Drake set another election and two more women were elected to the council. He also appointed a woman to be station master for one of the town’s two railroad stations.
The vision fades
Alas, in the end, Si didn’t sell enough lots, and in 1900, the venture went bust. “It sprang up out of a corn field like a mushroom in the night and became a hamlet giving hope of future promise,” the town’s “obituary” read.***** Its buyer paid just $16,000 for the property, netting only $1,000 after settling Drake’s debts.
Yet Drake was quick to say that Lincoln’s demise wasn’t owing to the presence of women on the council. Rather, he said, it was simply due to a dip in real estate sales. Today, on a map of Plainfield, there’s a street in the outlying section of town called Lincoln Place. It’s lined with some suspiciously turn-of-the-century-looking homes.
Whatever Si’s motives — a gimmick, his storied chivalry or an honest stab at a more inclusive future — the town’s failure is a shame. In a time when women’s place was still considered to be the home and only the home, It was a worthy experiment!
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- * “A Town for Women,” the Gloucester County Democrat (Woodbury, NJ), November 4, 1897, p. 1.
- ** The Jersey City News (Jersey City, NJ), January 18, 1898, p. 2.
- *** But Lincoln’s comment is often taken out of context. He went on to say that he would admit those of the white race to suffrage. He also said he backed suffrage for those who pay taxes or bear arms. He knew full well that women could not serve in the military, and that only a precious few could own property in their name. Some say this was one of his little jokes.
- **** “A Town for Women” (this quote and the following two)
- ***** “Lincoln to Be Sold Today,” the Courier-News (Bridgewater, NJ), July 10, 1901, p. 1.
