By Alethia Kasben
Managing Editor
Posted: December 12, 2016 4:31 PM

Just past the sergeants’ desk in the House Office Building lobby now sits a portrait of the first woman and first Native American to serve in the House, Cora Reynolds Anderson. The office building is also named in her honor.

The portrait was revealed last week and was painted by Joshua Adam Risner, an artist for the Michigan Capitol Commission.

Ms. Anderson was the first woman to serve in the House and the second woman to serve in the Legislature. Her time in the House was brief, serving one term in 1925-1926. She was elected only four years after woman achieved suffrage.

She represented Baraga, Iron, Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties in the Upper Peninsula. Ms. Anderson chaired a committee on a reform school for young women located in Adrian and was a member of the Agricultural, Insurance and Northern State Normal School – now Northern Michigan University – committees during her time in the House.

Last week, House Speaker Kevin Cotter (R-Mount Pleasant) and House Minority Leader Tim Greimel (D-Auburn Hills) held a ceremony to unveil the portrait.

While the building has been known as the Anderson House Office Building from almost the time it opened in 1999, the new lobby portrait gives a much more visible presence to the building’s namesake.