“Madame Anna V. Bassett”
Entered By: Mardee and Darren Austin
Entry Category: Residential Entry
Description
Madame Anna V. Bassett waters her rose garden as she overlooks Main Street. This was no ordinary Victorian-era woman. Born in Ohio and homeschooled by her father (a preacher), she graduated with honors from Oberlin College in 1887 and went on to see the world! She taught music in China and Japan for several years before returning to the states with her new husband (Reverend Franklin Bassett), living in Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, and North Dakota before settling in Edmonds in 1904. She was a strong, civic-minded woman and very involved in our town’s early development. She founded the Edmonds Floretum Flower Club and the Edmonds Music and Art Study Club. Madame Bassett was an active suffragist and was the first woman in Edmonds to register to vote. Her most lasting legacy lives on through the thousands of pianists that can trace their piano instruction (often through their piano instructor’s instruction) back to Anna Bassett. The room with the turret behind her is the music studio where she taught countless children and adults from Edmonds how to play. If you listen carefully, some say they can still hear the haunting sound of her fingers tapping the keys around Halloween!
Location
729 Main Street
Edmonds WA 98020
Entry ID: # 7510
Previous Participant: No