Daily Mining Gazette An ad for Cora Reynolds-Anderson’s reelection bid as it appeared in the Daily Mining Gazette.

BARAGA — The Baraga post office will bear the name of a trailblazing former state legislator.

A bill naming the building after Cora Reynolds Anderson was signed into law by President Joe Biden last week. In 1924, Anderson, a member of the Ojibwa tribe, ran as a Republican for the Michigan House district including Baraga, Keweenaw, Iron and Ontonagon counties. She became the first woman elected to the Michigan House of Representatives — and the first Native American woman elected to serve in any state legislature.

Due to redistricting, Baraga County will now be part of the 109th House District. Jenn Hill, who was elected to the seat in November, said she hopes to live up to Anderson’s legacy.

“I’m really proud and grateful to see the first woman legislator from Michigan achieve this recognition of such an important community facility,” she said Monday. “I think it is somewhere where the community comes together and it’s important to recognize, and I’m honored to be following in her footsteps.”

During Anderson’s sole term in office, she served as chair on the Industrial Home for Girls Committee, according to a release announcing the bill’s signing. She also served on the committees for agriculture, insurance and the Northern State Normal School, which later became Northern Michigan University.

Her work included fighting to recognize Native American fishing rights in Huron Bay and combating the alcoholism and tuberculosis epidemics, according to the National Park Service.

While in office, she introduced six bills, covering licensing for beauticians and cosmetologists, sanitary conditions in hotels and inns, fishing rights, and accounting and reporting in township offices.

“Anderson’s example teaches us how to be actively engaged in our communities and how to serve our neighbors,” former State Rep. Scott Dianda said at a 2016 ceremony unveiling Anderson’s portrait at the Capitol.

Born in L’Anse in 1882, Anderson was a member of the L’Anse High School’s first graduating class. She was later educated as a teacher at the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, now known as the Haskell Indian Nations University. She returned to the U.P. and taught at the Zeba Mission.

Her focus on public welfare was lifelong. Before serving in the House, she organized the county’s first public health service, and also helped secure its first public health nurse. She also assisted her husband in prohibition efforts in Michigan and nationally; he would serve as a federal agent during Prohibition.

Anderson was also active in the Michigan Grange, an agricultural organization aimed at strengthening the economic and social position of farmers and the rural population. She served as an officer in the State Grange for eight years and spent four years as U.P. Deputy State Grange Master.

The building holding Michigan House’s legislative offices and committee rooms was named after Anderson in 2000. The next year, she was named to the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.

U.S. Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow co-sponsored legislation to name the post office after Anderson.

“As the first Native American woman to serve in any state legislature, Cora Reynolds Anderson remains a vital part of our state’s and our nation’s history,” Peters said in a statement. “Throughout her career, she improved the lives of people all across the Upper Peninsula. Naming this post office in Baraga County after this trailblazer will help cement her legacy as a dedicated leader and public servant.”

“Cora Reynolds Anderson is such an important part of Michigan’s history,” Stabenow said. “As the first woman elected to the Michigan House of Representatives – and the first Native American woman to serve in any state legislature – she paved the way for so many women, including me, to hold public office. Naming this post office in the county she represented after her is one special way that Michiganders can honor and remember her for generations to come.”