Harriet Elizabeth Towner

Harriet Elizabeth Cole was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in April 1869. In the 1870s, she moved with her family to Corning, Iowa, where, in 1886, she married Horace Mann Towner, an attorney who became a district judge. Mrs. Towner was instrumental in establishing Corning’s first public library; she served on its board for 41 years and was its president for 27 years. She was also a founder of the Iowa Library Commission and its president for four years.

In 1910 Judge Towner was elected to represent Iowa’s Eighth District in the U.S. Congress. The couple moved to Washington, where Mrs. Towner became president of the Congressional Club, a nonpartisan organization for spouses of legislators. Three years later, she was elected Vice Regent for Iowa.

In 1923 President Warren G. Harding appointed Mr. Towner governor of Puerto Rico. Mrs. Towner published a history of La Forteleza, the historic governor’s residence where the couple lived in San Juan, in 1927. Governor Towner served in that post until 1929. He died in November 1937.