“Could the daughter of a Sicilian shoemaker brought up in New England go on to lead a major capital city — even if she was a little square, and a Republican?” “Absolutely,” was the overwhelming answer from the voters.

Antonina “Ann” Uccello turned 100 years old on May 19, 2022. Fifty-five years ago, she achieved the most impossible of political victories: she became the first female mayor in the history of Hartford, Conn., the first female mayor of any town in Connecticut and the first woman to be elected mayor of a major city in the U.S. She accomplished all this in a city where Democrats outnumbered Republicans 3 to 1.