Lucy Webb Hayes Ice Cream Social August 26th

Article Presented By Tomlinson Insurance…

Enjoy ice cream, cakes, lemonade, hot dogs, and other refreshments for the birthday of Chillicothe’s First Lady, Lucy Webb Hayes. She was born August 28th, 1831.

The Social will be held 1pm to 4pm Saturday, August 26th, 2023, enjoy your food inside in air conditioning or outdoors in the gardens of the Lucy Hayes Heritage Center, at 90 West Sixth Street in Chillicothe.  

Admission to the “Lucy House” is always is free. The annual event is also free (with a suggested donation of $5 for adults and $3 for children). Tours of the birthplace are also available.

On August 28, 1831, in a fine wood frame house at 56 East Fifth Street in Chillicothe, the third child and first daughter was born to Dr. James Webb and Maria Cook Webb.  

She lost her father three years later and the family moved out of the house and eventually out of town (and the house itself was moved), but Lucy Ware Webb grew up to be the first First Lady of the nation to have a college degree. 

In 1852 she married Rutherford B. Hayes, a Cincinnati attorney.  He felt abolition of slavery was too radical, but with Lucy’s anti-slavery sentiments, he soon began defending runaway slaves crossing the Ohio River.  

Rutherford fought for the Union and was wounded in the Civil War, then was immediately elected to Congress.  He then served three terms as governor of Ohio where Lucy served as First Lady of the state.

As First Lady of the U.S. from 1877 to 1881, she was a more egalitarian hostess than previous First Ladies.  She invited the first African-American professional musician to appear at the White House.

Oh, and she supported her husband’s decision to ban alcohol from the White House…and was called “Lemonade Lucy” for her choice of alternate drinks.

The Lily of the Valley planted at the location where her birthplace was moved to in 1883, the Lucy Hayes Heritage Center at 90 West Sixth Street, is said to have been started from plants at the White House.