Pieces of ’s Past This Week: Examining the Nines: McKinley Memorial

February 10, 2021

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, published by the Iowa State Capitol Tour Guides weekly during the Legislative Session, features historical facts about Iowa, the Capitol, and the early workings of state government. All italicized text/block quotes in this document are taken directly from historical publications with the actual spelling, punctuation, and grammar retained.

Examining the Nines: McKinley Memorial

This year begins the 89th Iowa General Assembly. Some of this year’s Pieces of Iowa’s Past articles will briefly examine the work of the 9th, 19th, 29th, 39th, 49th, 59th, 69th, and 79th General Assemblies, or observe interesting events that happened during those years.

The 29th General Assembly convened January 13 and adjourned April 11, 1902, an 89-day session.

Lieutenant Governor John Herriott presided over the Senate. John Herriott was born in on October 20, 1844. Herriott served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He moved to Iowa, where he was in business. Herriott served as Iowa State Treasurer. He was then Lieutenant Governor from 1902 until 1907, serving under Governor Albert B. Cummins. He died on September 24, 1918. Lieutenant Governor John Herriott Speaker Willard Eaton presided over the House of Representatives. The Iowa legislative website says of Eaton: “Born at Delhi, Delaware County, Iowa, on October 13, 1848. Mr. Eaton’s education was in the public schools of his native town, with a course at the State University, where he graduated from the law department in the class of 1872, and was then engaged in the practice of law.” Speaker of the House Willard Eaton

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The Senate had 11 Democratic and 39 Republican members. The House of Representatives had 84 Republican and 16 Democratic members.

Albert Cummins was sworn in as Governor on January 16, 1902. He was 51 years old.

Iowa’s population had reached more than 2,000,000 in 1900 (2,231,853).

Governor Albert Cummins

Excerpts from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

CUMMINS, ALBERT BAIRD, a Senator from Iowa; born near Carmichaels, Greene County, Pa., February 15, 1850; attended the public schools, and a preparatory academy; graduated Waynesburg (Pa.) College in 1869; moved to Iowa; briefly engaged as a carpenter; clerked in the office of the recorder of Clayton County; moved to Allen County, Indiana in 1871 where he became deputy county surveyor and engaged in railroad building; moved to Chicago to study law; admitted to the Illinois bar in 1875 and commenced practice in Chicago; returned to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1878, where he continued the practice of law; member, State house of representatives 1888-1890; unsuccessful candidate for election to the Senate in 1894 and 1900; member of the Republican National Committee 1896- 1900; Governor of Iowa 1902-1908, when he resigned, having been elected Senator; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1908 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William B. Allison; reelected in 1909, 1914, and again in 1920, and served from November 24, 1908, until his death on July 30, 1926; unsuccessful candidate for re-nomination in 1926; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Sixty-sixth through the Sixty-ninth Congresses; chairman, Committee on Civil Service and Retrenchment (Sixty-first and Sixty-second Congresses), Committee on the Mississippi River and its Tributaries (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses), Committee on Interstate Commerce (Sixty-sixth and Sixty- seventh Congresses), Committee on Judiciary (Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth Congresses); died in Des Moines, Iowa, July 30, 1926; interment in Woodland Cemetery.

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An address given by Governor Cummins to the 29th General Assembly in January of 1902 reflected on the life and service of William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States. The address was given on the anniversary of McKinley’s birth, January 29, 1902.

At the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, held in Buffalo, New York, President McKinley was standing in a receiving line when he was shot in the abdomen at point-blank range. McKinley was rushed to a Buffalo hospital and received a hopeful prognosis, but gangrene set in and eight days later, September 14, William McKinley 1843 - 1901 1901, he died.

Sioux City Journal - January 30, 1902

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From The Palimpsest, October 1948, an excerpt from “McKinley in Iowa” discusses McKinley’s triumphant trip following the defeat of Spain in 1898 and those who joined the President’s train in Iowa.

Albert Cummins was not a senator at the time but would later, after McKinley’s assassination, be elected Governor of Iowa and elected to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant when Senator W.B. Allison passed away in 1908.

At the time of this train ride, Cummins was a member of the Republican National Committee and had unsuccessfully run for the U.S. Senate. He and McKinley were most likely well acquainted.

An excerpt from “McKinley in Iowa,” The Palimpsest, October 1948

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President William McKinley and wife Ida Saxton McKinley Pieces of Iowa’s Past 6 February 10, 2021

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