Hazen S. Pingree
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Hazen Stuart Pingree (August 30, 1840–June 18, 1901) was a four-term Republican mayor of Detroit (1889-1897) and Governor of the U.S. state of Michigan (1897-1901). Pingree, after taking office as Governor on January 1, 1897, intended to also fill the last year of his term as mayor of Detroit, which would have lasted until elections in November 1897. However, his right to hold the two offices simultaneously was contested, and after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled against him, Pingree resigned as mayor (see Catlin p. 628).
Born in Denmark, Maine, he was a cobbler by trade and moved to Detroit following the Civil War, where he established the Pingree and Smith Shoe Co.
Pingree was elected mayor of Detroit in 1889 on a platform of exposing and ending corruption in city paving contracts, sewer contracts, and the school board. He soon turned to fighting privately owned utility monopolies. He challenged the electric and gas monopolies through municipally-owned competitors. His largest struggle, however, was with Tom L. Johnson, president of the Detroit City Railways, over lowering streetcar fares to three-cents. Pingree again attempted to create a competing municipally-owned company, but was barred from creating a railway by the Michigan state constitution.
During the depression of 1893, He expanded the public welfare programs, initiated public works for the unemployed, built new schools, parks, and public baths. He gained national recognition through his "potato patch plan," a systematic use of vacant city land for gardens which would produce food for the city's poor.
He was an advocate of economist Henry George's single tax. He died in 1901 in London, England, whilst returning from an African safari with former President Theodore Roosevelt. He is buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit. There is a statue of Pingree standing in the Grand Circus Park in Detroit, commemerating him as "The Idol of the People."
[edit] References
- Catlin, George B. [1900] (2005). “Chapters CI through CVII”, The story of Detroit. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Library, pp. 585-630. Retrieved on 2006-06-15.
- Holli, Melvin G. Reform in Detroit: Hazen S. Pingree and Urban Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1969.
- [1900] (2005) “s.v. Hon. Hazen S. Pingree”, Cyclopedia of Michigan: historical and biographical, comprising a synopsis of general history of the state, and biographical sketches of men who have, in their various spheres, contributed toward its development. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Library, pp. 144-146. Retrieved on 2006-06-15.
| Preceded by: John T. Rich |
Governor of Michigan 1897–1901 |
Succeeded by: Aaron T. Bliss |
| Governors of Michigan |  |
|---|---|
| Territorial: Hull • Cass • Porter • Mason • Horner
Mason • Woodbridge • Gordon • Barry • Felch • Greenly • Ransom • Barry • McClelland • Parsons • Bingham • Wisner • Blair • Crapo • Baldwin • Bagley • Croswell • Jerome • Begole • Alger • Luce • Winans • Rich • Pingree • Bliss • Warner • Osborn • Ferris • Sleeper • Groesbeck • Green • Brucker • Comstock • Fitzgerald • Murphy • Fitzgerald • Dickinson • Van Wagoner • Kelly • Sigler • Williams • Swainson • Romney • Milliken • Blanchard • Engler • Granholm |
