Frances Willard died of pernicious anemia at the Empire Hotel in New York City at age 58, while still serving as WCTU president.
Frances Willard died on February 17, 1898, at the Empire Hotel in New York City at the age of 58. Her death was caused by pernicious anemia, a then poorly understood blood disorder for which no effective treatment existed at the time. She died while still actively serving as president of both the national Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the World's WCTU, positions she had held for nearly two decades.
News of Willard's death prompted an outpouring of national mourning. Her body lay in state in Chicago, where thousands of mourners paid their respects, reflecting the immense scope of her influence and the deep affection in which she was held by the women's reform movement she had led. Memorial services were held across the country, and tributes poured in from political and social leaders who recognized her as one of the most significant reformers of her generation.
Willard's death marked the end of an era for the WCTU, which continued to operate under new leadership but never quite recaptured the singular, unifying force of her presidency. Her legacy, however, only grew in the years following her death: she was memorialized in numerous forms, including as the first woman honored with a statue in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection in 1905. Her extensive body of writing, organizational innovations, and reform philosophy continued to shape American social and political movements well into the twentieth century.