Ella Grasso - Hartford, CT
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 41° 45.842 W 072° 40.958
18T E 692632 N 4626172
A statue of Governor Ella Grasso is located in a niche on the west side of the second level of the south portico of the Capitol Building in Hartford, CT.
Waymark Code: WMME1Z
Location: Connecticut, United States
Date Posted: 09/07/2014
Views: 1
Ella Giovanna Oliva Tambussi was born on May 19, 1919 in Windsor locks, CT. She graduated with a B.A. degree from Mount Holyoke College in 1940 and an M.A. in economics and sociology in 1942. She then served with Connecticut's War Manpower Commission during World War II. In 1942, she married Thomas Grasso.
From 1953 to 1957 she served in the Connecticut House of Representatives. Then she became Connecticut's Secretary of the State for twelve years before being elected to Congress from Connecticut's 6th Congressional District. In 1974, she was elected to be Connecticut's 83rd governor. She was the first female governor of Connecticut and the first elected female governor in the United States not to be preceded by her husband.
Ella Grasso died on February 5, 1981. President Ronald Reagan posthumously awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 1994.
A 6' by 2.5' by 2'high marble statue of Governor Ella Grasso is the newest statue added to the State Capitol Building. Ella Grasso is wearing a skirt and buttoned jacket. Her right hand is outstretched and she is holding a book to her chest with her left hand. She stands in a niche with Gothic canopy on second floor level on the west side of the south portico of State Capitol. The marble plinth is inscribed: GRASSO