Since the 1800s, women have been involved in railroading, but their stories and contributions are often overlooked. Women broke barriers in telegraph offices, roundhouses, section crews, and station kitchens and even invented groundbreaking technologies for the rail industry.
In this exhibit, the roles of women and their contributions to railroad history in the United States and Oregon from 1870 to 1970 are explored.
Learn the personal stories of remarkable women like Grandma Munra who oversaw dining facilities for the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company in the late 1880s, Mary Walton who patented a sound dampening system for rails, and Edwina Justus who was Union Pacific’s first Black woman locomotive engineer. Get acquainted with the women that worked in the roundhouse in Salem, Oregon, filling job roles left by men who went off to serve in World War II.
Women on the Rails was created by University of Oregon Portland student Chloe Mills, as part of the Portland Internship Experience. Chloe interned at the ORHC during the summer of 2025; this exhibit opened to the public in September 2025. With this exhibit, Chloe enjoyed uncovering the real stories of women whose contributions have often been overlooked and sharing them in ways that engage the public.