Vinton County’s Maude Collins became Ohio’s first female sheriff

The Vinton County Department of Tourism unveiled a Maude Collins mural at the Vinton County Courthouse in McArthur, placing Ohio’s first female sheriff beside the Sheriff’s Office and a historical marker already on the grounds. The new public art makes Collins hard to miss in the county seat, where officials and visitors now encounter her story as part of the courthouse landscape.

Collins was appointed Vinton County sheriff on Oct. 9, 1925, after her husband, Fletcher Collins, was killed in the line of duty the day before. She had already been working as jail matron alongside him, and county commissioners put her into the office to finish his term. She later won re-election, turning what began as an emergency appointment into a lasting county first.

The office she entered was no ceremonial post. In Ohio counties, the sheriff is central to jail operations, courtroom security and county law enforcement, which made Collins’ appointment a direct entry into one of local government’s most visible public-safety roles. That is part of why her name still carries weight in Vinton County: she did not just break a barrier, she did it inside an office that touches daily county operations.

The timing also matters. Collins became sheriff only four years after women won the right to vote nationally in 1920, placing Vinton County inside one of the earliest chapters of women’s expanded public participation. Local history sources describe her as a law-enforcement pioneer, and the courthouse marker next to the Sheriff’s Office keeps that label tied to a specific place, not just a statewide claim.

The mural adds a newer layer of memory. Artist Pamela Kellough has said people assumed Ohio’s first female sheriff would have come from the 1970s, not 1925, which shows how easily Collins’ achievement can be misplaced in the public imagination. The courthouse artwork corrects that in a visible way, making her part of the everyday view in McArthur rather than a name buried in a history file.

Collins’ reach extended beyond the county seat. In November 1927, she escorted Edgar Foy and Rose Waldron to the Ohio State Penitentiary, and they were reportedly the first prisoners ever taken there by a woman. More than a century after her appointment, Vinton County is still using courthouse walls, a historical marker and local storytelling to keep her place in county memory.