Born: 11 November 1886, United States
Died: 10 September 1983
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Alice Taylor Huyler
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
In 1908, Alice Ramsey’s husband gifted her a new Maxwell runabout, and that summer, she drove over 6,000 miles near their Hackensack home. In September of the same year, she participated in the American Automobile Association’s Montauk Point endurance race, driving one of the three Maxwells entered. Ramsey, one of only two women in the race, secured a bronze medal with a perfect score. Carl Kelsey, a Maxwell-Briscoe publicist, proposed a transcontinental journey during this event, backed by the company. They provided a 1909 touring car and support for Ramsey, initially conceived as a publicity stunt and part of Maxwell’s strategy to market specifically to women.
On June 9, 1909, at 22, she began her 3,800-mile journey from Hell Gate in Manhattan to San Francisco, driving a green, four-cylinder, 30-horsepower Maxwell DA. Accompanied by two older sisters-in-law and a 19-year-old friend, none of whom could drive, they arrived in San Francisco on August 7 amid great fanfare, though a few weeks later than planned.
Using maps from the American Automobile Association, the group traversed only 152 of the 3,600 miles on paved roads. Throughout the journey, Ramsey changed 11 tires, cleaned spark plugs, repaired a broken brake pedal, and slept in the car when stuck in mud. Navigating by following telephone poles with more wires, they hoped to reach a town.
During the trip, they encountered a Nebraska manhunt, dealt with bedbugs in a Wyoming hotel, and encountered a Native American hunting party in Nevada. In San Francisco, crowds welcomed them at the St. James Hotel. Between 1909 and 1975, Ramsey made the cross-country drive more than 30 times.
After her husband’s death in 1933, Ramsey lived with Anna Graham Harris in New Jersey and West Covina, California, until Anna’s death in 1953. From 1968 until her passing on September 10, 1983, in Covina, California, Ramsey shared her life with Elizabeth Elliott.
The following is republished from New Jersey Women’s History, in line with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Hackensack native Alice Huyler Ramsey (1886-1983) made her mark in 1909 as the first female to drive across the United States.
After an episode with a runaway horse and rig, Ramsey’s family felt that she would be better suited to driving an automobile. Her husband surprised Ramsey with a red Maxwell roadster that she learned to drive in only two lessons. In 1909, the 22-year-old set out in what proved to be the first successful attempt by a woman to drive across the country. Her car was fitted with a special 20-gallon-tank, and Ramsey was joined by sisters-in-law Margaret Atwood and Nettie Powell and friend Hermine Jahns. The daring group adopted the slogan “From Hell Gate to Golden Gate” at the start of their epic journey. Along the way, Ramsey and her companions faced tire blowouts, broken axles and coils, and harsh driving conditions and overcame these setbacks without the assistance of a road map. They arrived safely in San Francisco where Ramsey was cheered as the first woman to drive from ocean to ocean.
Ramsey was named Woman Motorist of the Century by the American Automobile Association, organized and served as the president of the Women’s Motoring Club of New York, and ultimately drove cross country over 30 times throughout her life.
References:
Books:
Holmstrom, David. “On the road with Alice.” American History 29, no. 3 (1994).
Mappen, Marc. “Alice Goes for a Drive.” In There’s More to New Jersey Than the Sopranos, 120-124. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2009.
Journal Articles:
Burstyn, Joan N. 1990. “Alice Huyler Ramsey”. Past and Promise, Lives of New Jersey Women. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/54486255
Wenzel, Lynn, and Carol J. Binkowski. 2016. New Jersey’s remarkable women: daughters, wives, sisters, and mothers who shaped history. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/987639552