Hazen S. Pingree
| Hazen S. Pingree | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 24th Governor of Michigan | |
|
In office January 1, 1897 – January 1, 1901 |
|
| Lieutenant |
Thomas B. Dunstan Orrin Williams Robinson |
| Preceded by | John Tyler Rich |
| Succeeded by | Aaron Thomas Bliss |
| Mayor of Detroit, Michigan | |
|
In office 1889–1897 |
|
| Preceded by | John Pridgeon, Jr. |
| Succeeded by | William Richert |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 30, 1840 Denmark, Maine |
| Died | June 18, 1901 (aged 60) London, England |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Frances Gilbert |
| Religion | Baptist |
Hazen Stuart Pingree (August 30, 1840 – June 18, 1901) was a four-term Republican mayor of Detroit (1889–1897) and the 24th Governor of the U.S. State of Michigan (1897–1901). A Yankee who migrated from New England, he was a Georgist social reformer who battled corporations and was an early leader of the Progressive Movement.
A businessman with no political experience, Pingree was elected mayor in 1889 after a colorful campaign in which Pingree revealed his tolerance by making a circuit of saloons. Pingree added to the old stock Yankee Republican base by making large inroads into the German and Canadian elements. He was reelected in 1891, 1893 and 1895. Warning repeatedly against the dangers of government by corporations, he launched nationally visible crusades against Detroit's streetcar, gas, electric, and telephone companies. He successfully forced rate reductions that won him widespread popularity. He won public approval for a citizen-owned electric light plant, and became a national spokesman for municipal ownership and close regulation of utilities and street railways. When the nationwide Panic of 1893 caused a severe depression, Pingree gained support by opening empty lots to garden farming – people called him "Potato Patch Pingree." Pingree was a Republican, and had nothing to do with the Populist Party that had considerable support among labor union members. He supported the gold standard in 1896, and worked to carry Michigan for William McKinley over silverite William Jennings Bryan in the intensely competitive 1896 U.S. presidential election. Pingree was on the ballot, too, and was elected governor of Michigan. As governor, he fought a strong conservative opposition, but did succeed in forcing passage of the nation's first major statewide reappraisal of railroad and corporate property, with an eye to raising their taxes. This led to a rational basis for railroad regulation and taxation, emulated by Progressive reformers in other states and nationwide. A survey of scholars in 1999 ranked Pingree as the fourth best mayor in all of American history.
Pingree was born in Denmark, Maine, to Jasper Pingree and Adeline (Bryant) Pingree and attended the common schools in Maine. At the age of fourteen, he moved to Saco, Maine, where he worked at a cotton factory. Two years later, he moved to Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and worked several years as a cutter in a shoe factory.
...
Wikipedia