Louis Folwell Hart (4 January 18624 December 1929) was an American politician who served as the seventh Lieutenant Governor of Washington from 1913 to 1919 and as the ninth governor of Washington from 1919 to 1925. He was a Republican. He reorganized the state's administrative structure by reducing the number of agencies and the consequent financial economies.Staff (5 December 1929) "Death Summons Louis F. Hart: Life was Eventful"

Centralia Daily Chronicle ''The Chronicle'', formerly the ''Daily Chronicle'', is a local newspaper in Centralia, Washington Centralia () is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States. It is located along Interstate 5 near the midpoint between Seattle and Por ...

38(280): p. 1, 8

Biography

Hart was born in

High Point, Missouri High Point is an unincorporated community in southern Moniteau County, Missouri, United States. It is located ten miles south of California, approximately one mile west of Route 87 on Missouri Route C. History The first settlement at High Point ...

and studied law in Missouri. He married Ella James on 9 February 1881 in Missouri and over the course of years they had five children, three sons and two daughters,

Career

Lured by the frontier, Hart and his wife moved to

Snohomish, Washington Snohomish is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 9,098 at the 2010 census. It is located on the Snohomish River, southeast of Everett and northwest of Monroe. Snohomish lies at the intersection of U.S. Rou ...

in the late1880s,Staff (18 December 1930) "Wife of Former Governor Passes" ''Centralia Daily Chronicle'' 39(300): p. 1 where he practiced law. In 1899 they moved to Tacoma where he continued to practice law and was an insurance agent."Gubernatorial Spoon River" ''Time Magazine'' 13 October 1924
/ref> Winning the Republican nomination in 1912, Hart was elected as Washington's seventh

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

and he was reelected in 1916. During World War I Hart served chairman of the Selective Service Appeals Board for Southwest Washington. Hart became governor when the then -governor

Ernest Lister Ernest Lister (June 15, 1870June 14, 1919) was an American politician who served as the eighth governor of Washington from 1913 to 1919. Biography Born in Halifax, England, Lister immigrated with his family in 1884, to be near his uncle, who w ...

retired in 1919 due to failing health. Hart was elected governor in his own right in 1920. Hart was instrumental in getting new road projects through the state legislature 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 William Jennings "Wee" Coyle (March 10, 1888 – October 1, 1977) was a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Washington. He served as the eighth Lieutenant Governor of Washington. While attending the University of Washington, he pl ...

was 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''.

Death

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

References

External links

Washington Secretary of State
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Louis F. 1862 births 1929 deaths Republican Party governors of Washington (state) Lieutenant Governors of Washington (state) Methodists from Washington (state) 20th-century American politicians People from Moniteau County, Missouri Methodists from Missouri Politicians from Tacoma, Washington 19th-century American lawyers 20th-century American lawyers Washington (state) lawyers

Biography

Career

Death

References

Further reading

External links