Lorena Pace Pruitt

Biography

Lorena Pace Pruitt made history when voters elected her in December 1945 to succeed J.Y. Wooten, who resigned as Smyrna’s mayor. She served as mayor from 1945 to 1948. She was the city’s first female elected official when she was elected to the city council in 1944 and, to date, its only female mayor.

Born on June 30, 1896, Pruitt’s tenure as mayor is marked by her efforts to upgrade the city’s water infrastructure and pave its dirt streets. These efforts helped to bring the city into modern times.

Pruitt also fought unsuccessfully against the cessation of the Atlanta Northern Railway, an interurban line connecting Atlanta and Marietta. According to at least one report, she witnessed the interurban’s first run in 1905.

Before her public service tenure, Pruitt was the director of the State Training School for Girls and the Confederate Soldiers’ Home.