David E. Shanahan Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 state legislator

Illinois General Assembly

The Illinois General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois and comprises the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Illinois has 59 legislative districts, with two...

 and political leader, was born on a farm in Lee County, Illinois. His parents moved back to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 when he was just three months old and he lived there for the rest of his life. Mr. Shanahan graduated from Holden Grammar School, South Division High School, and Chicago Law College.

In 1885 he was elected South Town Supervisor. In 1915 he was a member of the Illinois Commission to the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco. He served on the State Council of Defense during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and the Illinois Commission for A Century of Progress Exposition

Century of Progress

A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...

 1933–1934. In 1919 he was elected to the Illinois Constitutional Convention. He was a member of the Chicago Real Estate Board, the Union League Club, and numerous civic organizations.

Mr. Shanahan was first elected to the Illinois House of Representatives

Illinois House of Representatives

The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...

 in 1894 from the Bridgeport

Bridgeport, Chicago

Bridgeport, one of 77 community areas of Chicago, is a neighborhood located on the city's South Side. It is bounded, generally, on the west and north by the Chicago River, on the east by Canal Street, and on the south by Pershing Road.-History:...

 neighborhood on Chicago's South Side

South Side (Chicago)

The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the city's incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township which voted along with several other townships to be annexed in the June 29,...

 and was re-elected every two years until his last election in 1934. He was serving in office when he died in 1936. He served several different terms as Speaker of the House including 1915–1921, 1923–1925, and 1929–1933. Rep. Shanahan's death in 1936 came just a few weeks before the general election with his name still on the ballot. Because the maximum of two Democrats had already been nominated from Bridgeport for the 1936 election, a third Democrat, future Mayor Richard J. Daley

Richard J. Daley

Richard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the mayor and undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F...

, ran for and was elected to the late Rep. Shanahan's seat technically on the Republican line. But Daley immediately joined the House Democratic Caucus upon his taking office in Springfield

Springfield, Illinois

Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...

 in January 1937.

Rep. Shanahan was a real estate investor whose estate topped one million dollars in 1936, a large sum for the Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

era. There was an extensive battle in court for the estate when his will was contested and it was discovered that he had a "secret marriage" late in his life to one of his secretaries.

(Sources: Illinois Blue Book 1935–1936 and The Chicago Daily Tribune 1936–1937)