Her house greets you as you roll into Fish Creek, but her impact in Door County goes well beyond designing the floor plan of the Alexander Noble House.

According to a feature by the Gibraltar Historical Society, Ula Noble was a schoolteacher in Northern Door County at one-room schools in Baileys Harbor, Ephraim, Fish Creek, and Jacksonport before being a trailblazer in different areas. After she became the state’s first licensed pharmacist in 1892 after graduating from the Chicago College of Pharmacy, she returned to Door County to put a bigger stamp on education. She became the first female superintendent of schools in 1906 after losing the election twice before. It came at a time when women could not vote, a right they would not receive for another 13 years. She was also the first Worthy Matron of the Order of the Eastern Star in Wisconsin. A part of the fraternal organization Freemasonry, Sturgeon Bay was deemed Honor Chapter #1, and it is one of 38 chapters in the state.

As for the house she helped design, it is open for tours from the beginning of June through mid-October, thanks to the Gibraltar Historical Society. It was placed on the State and the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

Picture courtesy of the Gibraltar Historical Association