History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Henry Vollmer

[Henry Vollmer]


HENRY VOLLMER was born in Davenport, Iowa, in 1867. He received his education in that city, the Iowa State University and Georgetown University at Washington, D. C. He took a thorough law course, was admitted to the bar and began practice in Davenport. He early developed a talent for public speaking which brought him into prominence as one of the young leaders of the Democratic party. In 1893 he was first chosen mayor of Davenport and at once applied himself to the inauguration of municipal reforms. He was the youngest mayor in a city of the first class in the United States. He was three times reëlected and secured the erection of a fine city hall without an increase of taxation. In 1893 he was chosen president of the Democratic State Convention and delivered an address which for eloquence and ability gave him more than a State-wide reputation as a public speaker. He was one of the leaders of what is termed the sound money wing of the Democratic party of Iowa in the presidential campaign of 1896.