Ellen “Nellie” Hinsdale Galusha Smith (1849–1922)

An artist, author, and visionary, Ellen Galusha Smith was a founding member of the Peoria Women’s Club and one of its most dynamic early figures. Born in Lisbon, Illinois in 1849 to a family of prominent Vermont lineage—including two early governors—Ellen inherited a love of learning and a pioneering spirit. 

Her father, Orson Bingham Galusha, was instrumental in the founding of what became the University of Illinois and served as president of the Illinois State Horticultural Society for decades. The first to bring scientific knowledge of nursery culture to Illinois, Ellen’s father’s expertise shaped the extensive gardens he designed at his daughter’s Peoria home (108 W. Corrington Ave.), known as “The Thicket.” These gardens had a profound influence on Ellen, fostering her lifelong interest in art and nature. 

Ellen married educator and later best-selling science-fiction author William Hawley Smith in 1870. His 1904 novel, The Promoters: A Novel Without a Woman, offered a satirical look at early 20th-century American finance and ambition—remarkably, without featuring any female characters. While he traveled the country lecturing (without her!) Ellen devoted herself to art, civic causes, and club work in Peoria. 

She painted prolifically, studied under Frank Peyraud (whose landscape hangs in the PWC Drawing Room), and exhibited in Chicago and Peoria—including the 1893 World’s Fair. Her love of embroidery led to her founding the Art Embroidery Publishing Company, which published her instructional book How to Shade Embroidered Flowers and Leaves (1888), a beautifully illustrated guide now housed in the PWC archives and in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Deeply engaged in intellectual and artistic life, Ellen’s circle of friends included Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Grover Cleveland, Adlai Stevenson, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. A spiritualist and suffrage supporter, she once claimed that the painter James McNeill Whistler guided her hand in a dream while working on a canvas. She remained a champion of women’s education and creativity throughout her life.

Ellen was instrumental in shaping the early years of the Peoria Women’s Club, helping to establish its departments in Art, Literature, Social Science, and Home and Education. She was also active in the Peoria Art League, Peoria Society of Allied Arts, and Universalist Church.

Her portrait, which hangs today in the dining room of the Clubhouse, honors not only her artistic achievements but also her enduring legacy as a leader, innovator, and believer in the power of women to shape culture and community.