Intrepid women are known for breaking down barriers and persevering when others would have given up. India Boyer was such a woman who became the first female architect in Ohio.
Born in Perry Township, India Boyer was the daughter of Calvin and Ethel Boyer. Her mother was the first female elected to the Perry Township Board of Education. After graduating as valedictorian from Pemberton High School, India had dreams of becoming an architect and applied to the Ohio State University. OSU had just opened the Department of Architecture to women, and she was one of only six women admitted that year. Because of the difficult academic workload by the beginning of her sophomore year, she was the only remaining woman in the department. She faced many obstacles from her male counterparts but eventually earned their respect and support the longer she stayed and the more obvious her skills became. Toward the end of her senior year when students had to compete on an all-day design problem, India at first was alone until two senior men coming to accept her abilities appeared at her side to conclude the project. India was even excluded from a competitive exam that would have allowed her to win a summer study in Paris because “she might win and there were no facilities for women there.” In spite of all this she graduated in 1930, just at the beginning of The Depression.
She came back to Sidney but could find very little work here for four years. Still battling being a female in a man’s line of work as well as a depressed economy, she applied to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and began working on navigation and flood control projects. It was in this field that she made her mark for the next eleven years, being appointed head of the architecture department of the Corps in 1939, a position she held for the next seven years.
In 1941, India was the first female to pass the state architecture examination and went into private practice with the firm of Vogt, Ivers and Associates in Cincinnati. Despite not having her name included, she headed the firm and fought competition from all-male firms. Her talents encompassed commercial, industrial, recreational, and educational buildings, all of which she accomplished in the Cincinnati area. India helped design the architectural layout for many buildings in the Cincinnati area, including WCPO-TV studios, parts of the King’s Island complex, and Provident Bank. Although she retired early due to a heart attack in 1975, she continued to consult on projects and to receive awards such as the YMCA Women of Achievement Award and OSU’s Outstanding Alumnus Award.
In 1994, a group of women architects established the India Boyer Guild of Women in Architecture to pay tribute to this Shelby County native, noting what a significant role India had played in creating opportunities for women in this still male-dominated field.