Centennial Perspectives

Myrna Belle Reece Hanna
1890-1955
Legislator

Myrna Belle Reece Hanna was the first woman to represent Wood County in the Ohio General Assembly.  Active in the woman's suffrage movement and then in the Republican Party, she successfully ran for a seat in the legislature in 1928 and was re-elected in 1930. In 1929, Hanna was the House sponsor of the Emmons-Hanna Bill, which transformed Bowling Green and Kent State Normal schools into state colleges, allowing them to grant the four-year degrees of Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts.  In her four short years in Ohio’s assembly, Hanna also promoted the establishment of county parks along the Maumee River in conjunction with neighboring counties, and worked to support the funding and protection of the Fort Meigs historic site. 

Hanna Hall was named in her honor in 1959.

For further reading in University Archives

• News articles in BG News
• MMS 434 - Myrna Belle Reece Hanna Collection

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