Mary Elizabeth Anderson (February 19, 1866 – June 27, 1953)[1] was an American real estate developer, rancher, viticulturist, and most notably the inventor of what became known as the windshield wiper.

Mary Anderson was born in Burton Hill Plantation, Greene County, Alabama, at the start of Reconstruction in 1866.

[4][5] In Birmingham, Anderson became a real estate developer soon after settling and built the Fairmont Apartments on Highland Avenue.

The trolley car’s front window was designed for bad-weather visibility, but its multi-pane windshield system worked very poorly.

Therefore, to clear the sights, the driver needed to open the window, lean out of the vehicle, or stop the car to go outside in order to wipe the windscreen with his or her hands.

[7][8] When she returned to Alabama, she drew up a sketch for a wiper blade that could be operated from inside a vehicle and wrote up the description.

She also hired a designer for a hand-operated device to keep a windshield clear and had a local company produce a working model.

Therefore, when Anderson tried to sell the rights to her invention through a noted Canadian firm of Dinning and Eckenstein in 1905, they rejected her application.

[10][1] According to the National Inventors Hall of Fame, her invention was simply ahead of its time, and other companies and entrepreneurs were able to profit off her original ideas.

[10] In 1917, Charlotte Bridgewood patented the “electric storm windshield cleaner,” the first automatic wiper system that used rollers instead of blades.

[8] With minimal mention or recognition until 2011, thankfully Anderson’s sketch provides a glimpse of her entrepreneurial spirit and ambition.

Rini Paiva, executive vice president at the National Inventors Hall of Fame said, "She was persistent, she was forward-thinking, and she had the drive to follow up on an idea.