In 1904 Katharine Dexter wed Stanley McCormick, heir to the McCormick reaper fortune, and the couple soon moved to the fabulous 87-acre McCormick estate in Montecito, Riven Rock. Their happiness was short-lived as Stanley’s progressive mental illness took its toll. Katharine stood by her husband through lengthy court battles with the family over his care until his death in 1947.

A remarkable woman, the second woman to earn a degree at M.I.T., she was instrumental in founding the League of Women Voters and was a staunch supporter of women’s reproductive rights, funding research in the development of the birth control pill as well as becoming a major Santa Barbara philanthropist.