Estelle Reel Meyer was born in Pittsfield, Illinois. in 1862; educated in the schools of Pittsfield, Chicago, St. Louis and Boston. She came to Wyoming in 1886, and taught in the Cheyenne public schools; Laramie County superintendent of schools from January 1891 until January 1895; affiliated with the Republican Party. In 1894, Reel was elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction, serving from January 7, 1895 until January 27, 1898; the second woman in the United States to be elected to a state office. She resigned in 1898 when she was appointed National Superintendent of Indian Schools by President McKinley.

In 1910, she resigned her position to marry rancher Cort Meyer and established her legal residence in Toppenish, Washington. She died in 1959.

Additional Resources

•  Estelle Reel Meyer Collection, H60-110, Wyoming State Archives
•  Estelle Reel Papers, 1895-1959, Collection Number MS 120, Eastern Washington State Historical Society (Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture), Joel E. Ferris Research Library and Archives
•  Estelle Reel Correspondence, 1895-1897, Wyoming Department of Education, RG0005, Wyoming State Archives. 4 letterpress volumes of outgoing correspondence.
•  "Estelle Reel, Superintendent of Indian Schools, 1898-1910: Politics, Curriculum, and Land" byK. Tsianina Lomawaima. Journal of American Indian Education, Volume 35 Number 3, May 1996
• "Estelle Reel, First Woman Elected to Statewide Office in Wyoming" by Kerry Drake, essay on WyoHistory.org