Illinois. Governor (1917-1921 : Lowden)

Frank Orren Lowden (1861-1943), Republican Governor of Illinois (1917-1921), was born in Sunrise City, Minn., on Jan. 26, 1861. His family moved to a farm at Point Pleasant, Iowa. After teaching in Iowa country schools, Lowden completed a partial course at the Iowa Agricultural and Mechanical College, and entered Iowa State University, where despite missing his junior year, he graduated as class valedictorian (1885). He taught at Burlington High School before moving to Chicago where he worked in a law office and entered Union College of Law, now Northwestern University Law School, graduating in June 1887. Lowden was married April 29, 1896 in Chicago to Florence Pullman. With the outbreak of the Spanish American War, Lowden served in the Illinois National Guard's First Infantry. Lowden was considered as the Republican nominee for Governor (1904) but did not receive that nomination being elected instead to fill an unexpired Congressionial term. After two terms in Congress, Lowden served as Governor (1917-1921) during WWI and oversaw the consolidation of 100 state boards and departments under the new Administrative Code. Lowden died of cancer on March 20, 1943 in Tucson, Arizona.

From the description of Frank Orren Lowden correspondence, 1917-1921. (Illinois State Archive). WorldCat record id: 35773714