The Forgotten ‘Girl Mayors’ of the 1920s In the 1920s, the Now-Forgotten Flood of ‘Girl Mayors’ Became the Face of Feminism | Atlas Obscura The political trend was short-lived, but fascinating. In 1921, Ella Jacobson became mayor of Waterloo, Nebraska when voters wrote in her name on the ballot — thus defeating her own husband, who was running for mayor.