Louis F. Hart

Louis F. Hart
9th Governor of Washington
In office
February 13, 1919 – January 12, 1925
Lieutenant William J. Coyle
Preceded by Ernest Lister
Succeeded by Roland H. Hartley
7th Lieutenant Governor of Washington
In office
January 11, 1913 – February 13, 1919
Governor Ernest Lister
Preceded by Marion E. Hay
Succeeded by William J. Coyle
Personal details
Born (1862-01-04)January 4, 1862
High Point, Missouri, U.S.
Died December 4, 1929(1929-12-04) (aged 67)
Tacoma, Washington, U.S.

Louis Folwell Hart (January 4, 1862 – December 4, 1929) was the seventh Lieutenant Governor of the state of Washington and was the ninth Governor of Washington State from 13 February 1919 to 12 January 1925. He is most remembered for reorganizing the state's administrative structure by reducing the number of agencies and the consequent financial economies.[1]

Biography

Hart was born in High Point, Missouri and studied law in Missouri. He married Ella James on 9 February 1881 in Missouri[2] and over the course of years they had five children, three sons and two daughters,[1]

Career

Lured by the frontier, Hart and his wife moved to Snohomish, Washington in the late-1880s,[2] where he practiced law. In 1899 they moved to Tacoma[1][2] where he continued to practice law and was an insurance agent.[3]

Winning the Republican nomination in 1912, Hart was elected as Washington’s seventh Lieutenant Governor and he was reelected in 1916.[4]

During World War I Hart served chairman of the Selective Service Appeals Board for Southwest Washington.[1] Hart became governor when the then governor Ernest Lister retired in 1919 due to failing health.[1][3]

Hart was elected governor in his own right in 1920.[5] Hart was instrumental in getting new road projects through the state legislature[1] and strongly supported the creation of a state highway patrol. He oversaw the construction of a new State Capitol complex. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment was reorganizing the state's administrative structure, reducing the number of administrative agencies from 75 to 10.

He did not have a Lieutenant Governor from his election as governor until William J. Coyle appointed to the office in 1921. He is the last governor of the state, to date, that did not have a Lieutenant Governor at any time during his governorship.

Hart did not run for reelection in 1924, but instead retired to Tacoma where he practiced law, and served as the president of the State Good Roads Association.[1]

Death

Hart died on December 4, 1929, in Tacoma, Washington. He is interred at Masonic Memorial Park, Tumwater, Washington.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Staff (5 December 1929) "Death Summons Louis F. Hart: Life was Eventful" Centralia Daily Chronicle 38(280): p. 1, 8
  2. 1 2 3 Staff (18 December 1930) "Wife of Former Governor Passes" Centralia Daily Chronicle 39(300): p. 1
  3. 1 2 "Gubernatorial Spoon River" Time Magazine 13 October 1924
  4. ↑ "Louis E. Hart". Washington Secretary of State. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  5. ↑ "Washington Governor Louis Folwell Hart". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Louis E. Hart". Find A Grave. Retrieved 12 October 2012.

Further reading


Political offices
Preceded by
Marion E. Hay		 Lieutenant Governor of Washington
1913–1919 		Succeeded by
William J. Coyle
Preceded by
Ernest Lister		 Governor of Washington
1919–1925 		Succeeded by
Roland H. Hartley

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