Hazen Stuart Pingree was born on August 30, 1840, and died on June 18, 1901. He was an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd mayor of Detroit from 1889 to 1897 and the 24th governor of Michigan from 1897 to 1901. He moved to Michigan from New England and became a Republican businessman before entering politics.

Pingree was elected mayor in 1889 after a campaign that included visiting saloons to show his willingness to connect with different groups. He gained support from German and Canadian communities in addition to traditional Republican voters. He was reelected mayor in 1891, 1893, and 1895. He warned about the dangers of companies that controlled too much power and led efforts to reduce high prices charged by streetcar, gas, electric, and telephone companies. His work to lower costs made him popular, and he helped create a public-owned electric light plant. He also promoted the idea that cities should own and manage utilities and street railways.

During the economic crisis of 1893, Pingree helped people by allowing empty land to be used for farming. He called this the "Potato Patch Plan" and used money from selling his prize horse to buy tools and seeds for the project. As a Republican, his policies sometimes appealed to voters from the Populist Party and labor unions. In 1896, he supported the gold standard and helped Michigan vote for Republican candidate William McKinley over Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the presidential election.

Pingree was also elected governor of Michigan. As governor, he pushed for the first major state-wide review of railroad and corporate property to set fair tax rules. This helped create a basis for regulating railroads and breaking up powerful companies. In 1985, a study of historians ranked Pingree as the third-best mayor in American history.

Early life in Maine and Massachusetts

Pingree was born in Denmark, Maine, to Jasper Pingree and Adeline (Bryant) Pingree. He attended public schools in Maine. When he was fourteen years old, he moved to Saco, Maine, where he worked at a cotton factory. Two years later, he moved to Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and worked as a cutter in a shoe factory for several years.

Civil War

In 1862, Pingree joined the Union Army to fight in the Civil War as part of the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Regiment (Company F). He served on the battlefield during General Pope’s Northern Virginia Campaign and the Second Battle of Bull Run. His regiment was later ordered to protect Washington, D.C., until May 15, 1864, and then returned to the front lines. He fought in the Second Brigade of Tyler’s Division, part of the Second Corps, which took part in battles at Fredericksburg Road (May 18), Harris Farm (May 19), and Spotsylvania Court House (May 19–21).

His regiment was then assigned to the Second Corps, Third Division, in the Army of the Potomac and fought at North Anna (May 24–25), where he and others were captured by a group from John S. Mosby’s command. Pingree was held in Confederate prisons at Gordonsville and Lynchburg, Virginia, and at Salisbury, North Carolina. He was later sent to Andersonville prison. While General Sherman marched toward the sea, Pingree was moved to Millen, Georgia, where he escaped by pretending to be another prisoner during a roll call for a prisoner exchange in November 1864. He rejoined his regiment, fought in many more battles, and was present at Appomattox Court House when Robert E. Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865. A few months later, on August 15, his regiment was officially discharged.

Business in Michigan

Pingree worked as a shoemaker and, after the war, moved to Detroit. He worked for a short time at Henry Porter Baldwin's shoe company. In 1866, Pingree and his accountant, Charles H. Smith, bought Baldwin's shoe-making equipment and started the Pingree and Smith company. In 1883, Smith left the company, and J. B. Howarth and Pingree's son, Joe, joined as partners. By 1886, the company was worth $1 million and had 700 workers who produced 500,000 shoes and boots each year. It was the second-largest shoe manufacturer in the United States. In March 1887, a fire destroyed the entire factory, but the company recovered.

In 1872, Pingree married Frances A. Gilbert from Mount Clemens, Michigan. They had three children: Joe, Hazel, and Gertrude. Gertrude died from tuberculosis at age 19 in 1894.

Mayor of Detroit

Pingree was not involved in politics before becoming mayor of Detroit in 1889. He was elected on a plan to stop corruption in city paving, sewer, and school board contracts. He later worked to challenge privately owned utility companies, such as those that provided electricity and gas, by creating city-owned competitors. His biggest challenge came with Tom L. Johnson, president of the Detroit City Railway, over reducing streetcar fares to three cents. Pingree tried to create a city-owned railway company but was not allowed to do so by the Michigan Constitution. When the railway company asked for a thirty-year contract with the city, Pingree opposed it, which caused strong disapproval from a major shareholder, James McMillan.

During the serious national economic downturn of 1893, Pingree expanded public welfare programs, started jobs for the unemployed, and built new schools, parks, and public baths. He became well-known nationally for his "potato patch plan," which gave poor people access to 430 acres (170 ha) of unused city land to grow food. He also supported economist Henry George’s idea of a single tax.

A 1993 study by Melvin G. Holli of the University of Illinois at Chicago, which asked experts in history, politics, and city planning, ranked Pingree as the fourth-best mayor of a major American city between 1820 and 1993.

Governor of Michigan

In 1896, Pingree was chosen as the Republican candidate for Governor of Michigan. He promoted a plan that encouraged support for many different groups, including Germans and other ethnic communities, to form a strong group that would bring prosperity to all people. He opposed the promises of wealth made by those who supported using silver as money. He won the support of the state for both himself and the Republican presidential candidate, William McKinley.

After starting his term as governor on January 1, 1897, Pingree planned to also serve as mayor of Detroit until November elections in 1897. However, others questioned whether he could hold both positions at the same time. The Michigan Supreme Court decided he could not, so Pingree stepped down as mayor.

During his four years as governor, Pingree worked to control railroad prices, ensure fair taxes, and allow cities to own public services like electricity and water. He also supported voters choosing U.S. senators directly, an eight-hour workday, an income tax, elections where voters pick candidates, the use of "referendum" to let people vote on laws, ending child labor, and requiring businesses to settle labor disputes through arbitration. Many of these ideas faced opposition from Democrats and Republicans who supported business interests. Pingree warned about the dangers of powerful corporations, saying, "I do not blame corporations or wealthy people, but I believe they should stay within their correct roles. It is not safe to let Wall Street control the government."

Death

Pingree did not seek another term in office in 1900. In 1901, Pingree traveled to London, England, after returning from an African safari with his son. He became seriously ill with peritonitis, a severe infection of the abdominal cavity, and could not return to the United States. King Edward VII, who resembled Pingree, sent his personal doctors to London's Grand Hotel to help treat Pingree's illness.

Pingree was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan, and later moved to Woodlawn Cemetery in the same city. A statue of Pingree stands in Grand Circus Park in Detroit, honoring him as "The Idol of the People." The statue was created by Austrian sculptor Rudolph Schwarz.

Additionally, a bronze bust of Pingree is displayed on the thirteenth floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Building in Detroit.