SHINGLEHOUSE – Saturday’s crowning of Miss Oklahoma, Jennifer
Berry, as the winner of the 2006 Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas
recalls Potter County’s special connection to that popular
tradition.
Shinglehouse has the distinction of providing the very first
Miss America. She was Miss Myrtle Meriwether, crowned in 1880 as
“the most beautiful unmarried girl in the nation” during a pageant
in Rehoboth City, Del.
The title at that time was “Miss United States,” and among the
panel of judges for this first-ever national competition was
inventor Thomas Alva Edison.
Just days before the 1880 pageant, Meriwether was tending to
business at her modest millinery and gift shop in Shinglehouse,
making plans to attend the annual convention of the Northern
Pennsylvania Women’s League in Rehoboth City.
During a break in the convention, she was strolling the
boardwalk when she noticed a poster encouraging young women to
enter a beauty contest. Upon further investigation, Meriwether
discovered that Pennsylvania was among the four states that were
not yet represented.
The promoter convinced Myrtle that she met all of the contest’s
criteria – physical beauty, single, young, at least five-foot-four
and weighing less than 130 pounds.
According to records maintained by the Oswayo Valley Historical
Society, Meriwether did not immediately enter the contest. She
discussed the offer in detail with her friends and, after a
restless night, decided to buy a gown with what little cash she had
and hope for success.
Judges based their decision on attractiveness of costume and
“the combination of poise, face, figure, hands, feet, carriage and
grace.”
Credible accounts of the pageant itself are lacking. Some
writers over the years have speculated or embellished what few
threads of information can be found. Col. Henry Shoemaker, whose
colorful writings were published by the Pennsylvania Folklore
Society, claimed, “Myrtle almost fainted from shock and trembled
like an aspen when she was led forward to receive gifts of
honor.”
As Miss United States, she was presented a gilded plaque as well
as a complete bridal outfit.
This was long before the time when Miss America would make
public appearances and endorse commercial products as the idol of
girls across the nation. The title was no springboard to success in
show business and modeling.
Instead, Meriwether sold the bridal trousseau for about half of
its $250 value to cover the hotel bills from her extended stay and
her train fare back to Shinglehouse.
With the intervention of promoter P.T. Barnum and other
exploiters, Miss United States would evolve to Miss America in
subsequent years. The pageant was headquartered in Atlantic City,
N.J., for more than eight decades before this year’s relocation to
Las Vegas.
Myrtle Meriwether has become a mere footnote to history. The
modern Miss America Organization only charts its history back to
1921. However, Meriwether’s success is duly noted in the archives
of the Rehoboth Beach Historical Society and the Rehoboth
Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce.
And as far as the people of the Oswayo Valley are concerned, the
attractive young shopkeeper gives them a distinction that no other
area will ever have.
