Mary Anderson was born in Greene County, Alabama, at the start of Reconstruction in 1866. In 1889 she moved with her widowed mother and sister to the booming town of Birmingham, Alabama. There is no known information about Anderson's parent's and she also never married. In Birmingham, she built the Fairmont Apartments on Highland Avenue soon after settling in. By 1893, Mary Anderson had moved west to Fresno, California until 1898 where she then operated a cattle ranch and vineyard.
Windshield wipers
In a visit to New York City in the winter of 1903, in a trolley car on a frosty day, Anderson observed that a trolley car driver struggled to see past the windows because of the falling sleet. When she returned to Alabama she hired a designer for a hand-operated device to keep a windshield clear and had a local company produce a working model. She applied for, and in 1903 was granted, a 17-year patent for a windshield wiper. Her device consisted of a lever inside the vehicle that controlled a rubber blade on the outside of the windshield. The lever could be operated to cause the spring-loaded arm to move back and forth across the windshield. A counterweight was used to ensure contact between the wiper and the window. Similar devices had been made earlier, but Anderson's was the first to be effective. In 1905 Anderson tried to sell the rights to her invention through a noted Canadian firm, but they rejected her application saying "we do not consider it to be of such commercial value as would warrant our undertaking its sale." After the patent expired in 1920 and the automobile manufacturing business grew exponentially, windshield wipers using Anderson's basic design became standard equipment. In 1922, Cadillac became the first car manufacturer to adopt them as standard equipment. In 1922, driving became more popular and there was nothing yet on personal operated vehicles to clean their windshield. Cadillac thought they should take Anderson's invention on street cars and apply it to their own motor operated vehicles. So they did, Cadillac began to put windshield wipers on their personal vehicles as a standard. Every other car company thought Cadillac and Anderson's ideas were very smart so they would take the idea and apply it to their own cars. Now in 2020 Anderson's invention has come a long way and is a requirement on everyones car. People rely on the windshield wipers in order to stay safe on the road in rainy and snowy conditions.
Later life
Anderson resided in Birmingham, where she continued to manage the Fairmont Apartments until her death at the age of 87. At the time of her death she was the oldest member of South Highland Presbyterian Church. She died at her summer home in Monteagle, Tennessee. Her funeral was conducted by Dr. Frank A Mathes at South Highland and she was buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
Anderson's invention of the windshield wiper is mentioned in Season 17, Episode 19: "Girls Just Want to Have Sums," of the cartoon The Simpsons, during a debate between Marge Simpson and her husband and son, Homer and Bart, about gender equality: Anderson's windshield wiper invention is also briefly mentioned on the British panel/quiz show; QI ; Season 10, Episode 16 - "Just the Job". "When was the windshield wiper invented?" was the Weather Channel "Question of the Day" for July 6, 2016. NPR's Morning Edition produced a profile, including an interview with her great-great-niece into her legacy and societal context on July 25, 2017.
