Hazen S. Pingree took office on January 15, 1890, and would embark on a career that would earn him the nickname “the Idol of the People.”
But don’t take our word on his greatness: Pingree was named the fourth-best mayor in U.S. history by a poll of scholars published in “The American Mayor” by Melvin Holli (Penn State University Press, 1999).
“His role as an advanced social reformer was unmatched by any big-city mayor in the last half of the 19th Century,” Holli wrote. He “was one of the most important pre-Progressive reform mayors and made a national reputation for himself supporting a novel work-relief program for the poor and fighting for municipal ownership and for low utility and tax rates for the urban masses.”
Sources:
Dan Austin, “The day Detroit got its greatest mayor”, Detroit Free Press, January 15, 2015.
Detroit Historical Society Facebook Page
Bill Loomis, “Hazen Pingree: Quite possibly Detroit’s finest mayor; He changed the city’s structure for the people’s benefit”, Detroit News, January 6, 2013.
Don Lochbiler, “The Shoemaker Who Looked Like a King”, Detroit News, June 11, 1998.
Hazen S. Pingree Monument entry by Dan Austin of HistoricDetroit.org