Davis Hanson Waite (April 9, 1825 – November 27, 1901) was an American politician. He was a member of the
Populist Party, and he served as the
eighth Governor of Colorado from 1893 to 1895.
Biography
Early years
Davis Hanson Waite was born April 9, 1825 in
Jamestown, New York
Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 28,712 at the 2020 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the north and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamestown is the largest pop ...
to Joseph Waite and Olive Davis Waite. He studied law and graduated from
Jamestown Academy. In 1851, he married Frances Eliza Russell and together they had two children, Austin and Josephine.
[Ancestors of Gov. Davis Hanson Waite]
/ref> Waite served in the state legislatures of Wisconsin in 1857, and Kansas in 1879.
Waite and his family moved to Leadville, Colorado
The City of Leadville is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorad ...
, in 1879 to practice law.[Governor Davis H. Waite Collection,"]
Colorado State Archives, 9 cubic feet, bulk 1893–1895. After his wife Frances died in November 1880, he moved to Aspen. In Aspen he started the local newspaper and served as secretary of the local assembly of the Knights of Labor. He remarried to Celia O. Maltby (née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Crane) on January 8, 1885. They had one son, Frank Hanson Waite.[
]
Political career
Waite was elected to the Wisconsin Legislature as a Republican and had run a Republican newspaper in New York. In Colorado he edited the ''Union Era'', a reform paper, and helped to organized the People's Party (Populists) national convention.[ In 1892 he was nominated as the Populist candidate for Governor of Colorado and he was inaugurated on January 10, 1893. A passionate supporter of the Populist's Omaha Platform, he was nicknamed "Bloody Bridles" for an 1893 speech, in which he proclaimed, "It is better, infinitely better that blood should flow to the horses' bridles rather than our national liberties should be destroyed."][Lawrence Goodwin, ''The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 1978; pg. 185.]
His election coincided with the Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment of 1896 and the pres ...
which hit the silver mining industry in Colorado particularly hard. In 1894, the Western Federation of Miners went on a five-month strike and Waite intervened on behalf of the union, ordering the deployment of the state militia to support and protect the miners.[Holbrook, Stewart. ''The Rocky Mountain Revolution.'' New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1956.] That same year Waite supported the American Railroad Union
The American Railway Union (ARU) was briefly among the largest labor unions of its time and one of the first industrial unions in the United States. Launched at a meeting held in Chicago in February 1893, the ARU won an early victory in a strike ...
during the national Pullman Strike. As governor he was also instrumental in the passage of women's suffrage in Colorado, the second state to do so.[
]
1894 Denver "City Hall War"
In 1893, a new municipal charter was given to Denver by the state legislature that decentralized much of the mayor's powers into six different administrative departments, two of which were elected, two appointed by the mayor, and the remaining two appointed by the governor. The municipal board members appointed by the governor had complete financial control over the police, fire, and excise departments.
Governor Waite tried to overturn the corruption in Denver in 1894 by removing police and fire commissioners that he thought were shielding gamblers and prostitutes. The officials refused to leave their positions and were quickly joined by others who felt their jobs were threatened. They barricaded themselves in City Hall, and the state militia were sent to remove them. Federal troops were called in from nearby Fort Logan to intervene and quell the civil strife. Eventually Governor Waite agreed to withdraw the militia and allow the state Supreme Court to decide the case. The court ruled that the governor had authority to replace the commissioners, but he was reprimanded for bringing in the militia, in what became known as the "City Hall War".
He was defeated for reelection in 1894, but continued to be active in the Populist movement until his death in 1901.
Death and legacy
Waite died on November 27, 1901 while preparing Thanksgiving dinner at his home in Aspen. His house
''His House'' is a 2020 horror thriller film written and directed by Remi Weekes from a story by Felicity Evans and Toby Venables. It stars Wunmi Mosaku, Sope Dirisu and Matt Smith. The film tells the story of a refugee couple from South Sudan, ...
on West Francis Street in Aspen has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Footnotes
Further reading
* David B. Griffiths, "Far-Western Populist Thought: A Comparative Study of John R. Rogers and Davis H. Waite," ''Pacific Northwest Quarterly,'' vol. 60, no. 4 (Oct. 1969), pp. 183–192
In JSTOR
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waite, Davis Hanson
1825 births
1901 deaths
Governors of Colorado
Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
Members of the Kansas House of Representatives
Politicians from Jamestown, New York
People from Aspen, Colorado
Colorado Democrats
Colorado Populists
People's Party state governors of the United States
American newspaper executives
Wisconsin Republicans
Colorado Republicans
New York (state) Republicans
Kansas Republicans
Journalists from New York (state)
Knights of Labor people
19th-century American politicians
19th-century American businesspeople