Alice E. Cram, International Contractor

Alice Cram (1864 - ?) was a successful masonry contractor beginning in the 1890s. She learned the business working for her husband’s Boston contracting company. The company was renamed D. H. and A. E. Cram in recognition of their partnership. Projects included foundation work on the Boston Public Library, a new courthouse, and the Edison Electric Company power house. In addition to foundations, the company did the masonry work on bridges including the Boulevard Bridge over the Boston & Albany railroad; it was considered “one of the finest pieces of masonry in the country.” Cram also oversaw masonry work on what was believed to be the largest bellmouth sewer in the country at the time.

The new Boston Public Library, c. 1895 (Scribner’s Magazine, January 1896)

A newspaper noted that Cram “superintends all her own work, and to this fact she attributes the satisfactory results obtained.” In 1898 Cram established a branch of the company in New York where she operated for sixteen years. While there, Cram had contracts on the Pennsylvania Railroad Terminal, Wannamaker’s Annex, the Plaza Hotel, the Remington, Equitable, and Woolworth buildings, the New Jersey State Armory, and the Library of Congress in Washington.

In addition to contracting and superintending work, Cram also sold materials and rented equipment for masonry and excavation work. In 1896, she beat out a national field of competitors to haul 40,000 tons of broken stone to elevate the tracks on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad. She later went international, renting 100 derricks to the 1889 Paris Exposition and traveling to France to oversee the work there. The derricks were of her husband’s patented design. The Paris trip was not her first business trip to Europe; Engineering News reported, “In 1892 she is said to have made a professional inspection and report upon the dock system of London.”

Cram participated in a number or organizations and spoke to several women’s clubs and professional societies. There she delivered a consistent message: Women can compete in business. “‘Brains, push and perseverance are the necessary equipment of men and women who seek to be regarded in the light of business people,’” she said in one speech. “‘Common sense, well balanced mind, directness and earnestness of manner are the clever woman’s best weapon in trade, and men are not slow to recognize and appreciate them.’”

Cram also recommended that women “‘cling to their femininity in apparel’” but act professionally and “‘have courage and let no circumstances intimidate them.” To this last point, she told of a workman trying to intimidate her and rob her of her coin bag: “I used a revolver and took the lobe off his right ear. Now, that’s the kind of courage women in business need.’”

A long-time proponent of women’s suffrage, Cram first ran for office in 1920. She cited her business experience as a qualification for the position of Massachusetts State Auditor. While she was unopposed in the Democratic primary, she lost the general election but ran again in 1922. At campaign stops, in addition to exhorting Massachusetts’s one million women to register and elect her, she was also reported to “flay” those favoring tariffs, “quoting percentages to demonstrate that it will operate to increase the cost of living.”

In spite of being well-qualified and well-received at campaign events, Cram did not beat the Republican incumbent for the state auditor seat in 1920, 1922, or 1924. While she could manage workmen effectively and profitably, she couldn’t convince them to vote for her.

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Sources:

“What a Smart Woman has Done,” Clay Record, June 15, 1896: 20.

“Mrs. Cram at Outdoor Rally,” The Morning Union (Springfield, Massachusetts), September 29, 1922: 7.

“Woman’s World: Boston Woman who has Succeeded as Contractor,” The Expositor (Fresno, California), April 29, 1896: 9.

“Urges Women to Take Part in Politics,” The Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts), October 17, 1922.

“The Woman Contractor,” Shiner Gazette (Shiner, Texas), January 02, 1896: 6.

“A Woman Railroad Contractor,” Ann Arbor Argus, January 24, 1896.

Engineering News, February 7, 1895: 96.

“Busy Mrs. Cram,” Boston Post, November 2, 1895: 7.

“Republican Contest for Second Post and Treasurer Features,” Springfield Evening Union (Springfield, Massachusetts), September 7, 1920: 1.