John Rankin Rogers (September 4, 1838 – December 26, 1901) was an American politician who served as the third governor of Washington from 1897 to 1901. Elected as a member of the People's Party before switching his affiliation to the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, Rogers was elected to two consecutive terms in 1896 and 1900, but died before completing his fifth year in office.

Biography

Early years

John R. Rogers was born September 4, 1838, in

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin Intern ...

, the son of Margaret Anne (Green) and John Rogers. Rogers went to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

as a youth and apprenticed as a

druggist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

, then moved south to

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

in 1856 to manage a drug store for four years in

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

. He moved north to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

in 1860, where he farmed and worked as a school teacher and druggist. He married Sarah Greene in 1861 and together they had five children. In 1876 the family relocated to

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

to farm and Rogers was later an editor of the ''Kansas Commoner'' for several years in Wichita, and was an organizer within the

Farmers' Alliance The Farmers' Alliance was an organized agrarian economic movement among American farmers that developed and flourished ca. 1875. The movement included several parallel but independent political organizations — the National Farmers' Alliance and ...

. Rogers moved to Washington in 1890 and settled in Puyallup, where he operated a drug store.

Political career

Rogers was elected to the

Washington House of Representatives The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Washington State Legislature, and along with the Washington State Senate makes up the legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is composed of 98 Representatives from 49 ...

in 1895 as a Populist, and governor the following year. As governor he supported the "Barefoot Schoolboy Act" which he had first sponsored while in the state legislature. The Act provided a mechanism of state funding to equalize support for free public education between counties which had a large tax base and those without. Rogers was a conditional supporter of the

Single Tax A single tax is a system of taxation based mainly or exclusively on one tax, typically chosen for its special properties, often being a tax on land value. The idea of a single tax on land values was proposed independently by John Locke and Bar ...

Movement associated with

Henry George Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. He inspired the eco ...

.Rogers, John Rankin. Homes for the Homeless. An Argument in Favor of a Non-taxable Homestead. Seattle: Allen Printing, 1895. He switched his affiliation to the Democratic Party in 1900 (he was the first Democrat to serve as governor; Ernest Lister would be the first politician from the state to be elected outright as a Democrat in 1913). John R. Rogers authored many books, pamphlets and articlesJohn Rankin Rogers Papers, 1814-1926,"
Washington State University, Pullman, WA. that followed a Populist and Arcadian Agrarian spirit. Growing up in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

when Jeffersonian ideals were talked about frequently was a strong influence on his political future.

Death and legacy

Rogers served as governor from January 11, 1897, until his death from

lobar pneumonia Lobar pneumonia is a form of pneumonia characterized by inflammatory exudate within the intra-alveolar space resulting in consolidation that affects a large and continuous area of the lobe of a lung. It is one of three anatomic classifications ...

on December 26, 1901, at age 63. Rogers is buried in the Woodbine Cemetery in Puyallup. John Rankin Rogers statue, Olympia

Two high schools in the state are named for Rogers, on either side of the

Cascade Mountains The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, a ...

. John R. Rogers High School in

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hanf ...

opened in 1932 and

Governor John R. Rogers High School Governor John R. Rogers High School is a high school in the Puyallup School District of Washington, United States. Commonly referred to as "Rogers" or "RHS," the high school is named after former Washington State governor John Rankin Rogers. It w ...

in Puyallup opened in 1968. Rogers Field, the football and track stadium at

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

in Pullman, was named for him in 1902. A fire, a suspected arson, significantly damaged the wooden stadium in April 1970.
Spokesman-Review
' - Fast blaze ruins Pullman stadium - 1970-04-06 - p.1 The stadium was reconstructed in 1972 and its name changed to Martin Stadium, after Clarence D. Martin, the eleventh governor of Washington (ironically, a graduate of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

). The present-day Rogers Field at WSU refers to the practice and intramural fields directly west of the stadium.

Footnotes

External links