Maud Dunlap Duncan - Pharmacist and Editor

Virginia Maud Dunlap Duncan was the 2^nd woman in Arkansas to secure a registration as a pharmacist. As a young businesswoman and editor of a newspaper, she ran for mayor of Winslow with an all-woman slate for city council. This “petticoat government” was elected to two consecutive terms and gained national attention during its time in office.

Born October 22, 1873, in Fayetteville, her mother died when she was an infant and Maud and her brother went to live with Albert Dunlap, her uncle, at Fort Smith. She was home-schooled until she enrolled in high school in Fort Smith. At the age of 16, she received a teacher’s certificate from Cane Hill College and taught at a one-room school. She played the organ at Stephen’s Episcopal Church, founded by her foster parents.

She married Hallam Pearce of Milan, Tennessee, a worker for the Frisco Railroad in Winslow in February 1894. The couple had 2 daughters, 1 died in infancy and the other died shortly after the marriage was annulled, October 3, 1901. After securing her registration as a pharmacist in 1906, she worked in the M. D. Pearce (Maud Dunlap Pearce) drug store in Winslow with her uncle.

In June 1908 she married newspaperman, Gilbert Nelson Duncan. The couple had no children. While Duncan continued to practice as a pharmacist, she and her husband purchased the Winslow Mirror, changed its name to the Winslow American, and began publishing weekly in a room over the drug store.

Her husband died in the flu epidemic of 1918, but she continued with both the paper and the drug store. Her interest in civic matters and women’s rights are seen in her writings and editorials. Convinced that women could do as good a job running a city as men, she ran for mayor and was elected with a full slate of women candidates as her city council. During the 1925–26 term, her “petticoat government” raised money to build a much-needed road up the steep mountainside to the west. The city council encouraged residents of the town to spruce up their homes and plant flowers, suggesting that merchants offer low prices on building materials for the betterment of the community.

As mayor, Duncan gave away the small jail, stating that those who broke the law would appear before her and pay a fine and that worse criminals could be dealt with by lawmen of the county. After being reelected for a second term and serving successfully, the women declined to run again.

In 1935 the pharmacy burned and the newspaper relocated to another building but Duncan continued to set type by hand and sell ads to keep the failing business going. The newspaper had gone from a 4-page weekly to a sporadically issued single sheet. Duncan continued to write editorials and cover local events until 1956, when she became so frail her friends moved her to a retirement home in Fayetteville.

Duncan died in Fayetteville on Jan 21, 1958, at the age of 85. She is buried at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Cemetery in Winslow.