In the summer of 1874, a group of woman came to Chautauqua to discuss the “scourge of alcohol.” They decided to form the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Among them was Frances E. Willard, an educator who served as WCTU president from 1879 to her death in 1898. She built it into the largest organization of women in 19th century America. Over the next nineteen years, Willard became one of the most famous women the country, gaining enough political clout to lead the fight for women’s rights, suffrage, prison reform, equal pay, federal aid to education, vocational training, and an eight-hour working day. Willard used the house in this photograph as her summer cottage at Chautauqua. The house, built in 1882, overlooks Lake Chautauqua. Preservation of Victorian houses such as this one has given Chautauqua much of its character. In 1924, the WCTU purchased it to mark its 50th anniversary. It is privately owned today. I photographed it in the early morning as the rising sun illuminated its elaborately carved main gable and the gingerbread rails on its balconies. I include the massive drinking water fountain in the foreground -- an appropriate symbol of the WCTU’s preference for water over liquor.