Hiram Gill
Encyclopedia
Hiram C. Gill was an American
lawyer and two-time Seattle
mayor, identified with the "open city" politics that advocated toleration of prostitution
, alcohol
, and gambling
.
. His father, Charles R. Gill
, a lawyer and Civil War
commander, later served as Wisconsin's attorney general. In 1889 Gill graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School
and moved to Seattle, where he worked first as a waiter at a waterfront restaurant. That June, the Great Seattle Fire
reconfigured Seattle. Gill soon became (as he had been during law school) a stenographer in a law firm, entering practice himself in 1892 and soon entering politics as a Republican
. As a lawyer, he defended saloonkeepers and brothel owners.
He was elected to the city council in 1898, reelected in 1900, defeated in 1902, but elected again in 1904, after which he held onto his seat, serving three years as council president before running for mayor in 1910 on an "open town" platform.
, and then became a player in the emerging Pacific
trade. A prosperity based on miners and maritime trade inevitably carved out a large role for brothels, bars, and gambling dens. Open town advocates like Gill and Seattle Times publisher Alden J. Blethen
argued for the economic benefits of an "open town" while trying to keep these "vices" mostly confined to the area below Yesler Way, a major east-west road through what is now known as Pioneer Square
. One of the most prominent figures on the other side of the debate was Presbyterian
minister Mark Matthews, who already in 1905 had faced off against Gill, accusing him of "condoning vice"; other opponents included other church groups, but also progressives
, prohibitionists
, and women's suffragists
.
During the campaign Gill advocated a "restricted district" for prostitution. "Somewhere in this city, occupying about a hundredth of one per cent of its area, these unfortunates, whose lives are gone, most of them beyond recall, will go. They will go out of the resident districts and the apartment-houses and hotels of this city. They will stay out." And the "open town" issue was not simply about prostitution and gambling. "I want bands to play in Seattle," said Gill. "I want them to play on Sunday."
This was, of course, not the only issue in the campaign. Gill opposed municipal ownership of utilities, arguing not only for privatized transit, but for privatized waterworks, and opposing the then-young Seattle City Light
electric utility. He was generally anti-tax and anti-union
.
Gill and a Republican slate won the March 8, 1910 election. Opponents attributed the remarkably high turnout to the Republicans importing unemployed men, lodging them in vacant houses and apartments, and effectively buying their votes.
Gill promptly reinstalled as chief of police Charles "Wappy" Wappenstein, whom Gill's predecessor John F. Miller had dismissed as corrupt. Wappenstein promptly established a regime far more "open" than any that Gill had overtly advocated, and not just south of Yesler Way. "For the most part, the established population [of prostitutes and gamblers] still plied their vocations in the business and residential sections. The streets, the cafés, even the better class of hotels, were still crowded with prostitutes. The old conditions were as prevalent as before, and the segregated area was populated chiefly by new arrivals."
Every prostitute in Seattle was expected to pay $10 a month to "Wappy", and the police department made sure they paid. Beacon Hill
became home to a 500-room brothel
with a 15-year lease from the city. Gill fired Wappenstein, then brought him back.
mayor A.C. Harper had resigned in the face of a proposed recall in 1909.
The same year that Gill was elected, the Washington State Legislature
granted women's suffrage
. Thus, when Gill's opponents managed to force a February 9, 1911 recall election
, it was to a very different electorate, one that included 23,000 registered women voters, of whom 20,000 showed up at the polls. Real estate man George W. Dilling defeated Gill by a margin of 6,000 votes. Wappenstein was convicted of corruption and imprisoned; Times publisher Blethen and his son Clarence were also tried, but were acquitted. Gill ran again for mayor in March 1912, but progressive George F. Cotterill
won (with Socialist
Hulet Wells coming in second). Gill resumed the practice of law.
(IWW), laying ground for Gill's political revival in the 1914 election. This time, though, Gill ran on a "closed town" platform and, remarkably, scored well with labor in the election. Under a new system, the mayoralty now had a four-year term.
Gill appointed progressive Austin Griffiths—one of his opponents for the mayoralty—as police chief. He maintained a more neutral stance toward City Light than before: while still by no means a proponent of public utilities, he no longer actively obstructed the utility, nor did he (as before) force it to take on the most unprofitable tasks while leaving all good opportunities to the private sector. When Washington "went dry" (prohibited alcohol) in 1916, Gill enforced it aggressively, with police raids extending even to the elite Rainier Club (and with police causing significant damage to raided establishments). He took labor's side in several (though not all) strike actions, and even spoke out on behalf of the IWW after the 1916 Everett Massacre
, earning him the wrath of the Times (while doing nothing to ingratiate him with his longtime enemies at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
).
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer and two-time Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
mayor, identified with the "open city" politics that advocated toleration of prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
, and gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
.
Rise
Gill was born in 1866 in Watertown, WisconsinWatertown, Wisconsin
Watertown is a city in Dodge and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Most of the city's population is in Jefferson County. Division Street, several blocks north of downtown, marks the county line. The population of Watertown was 21,598 at the 2000 census...
. His father, Charles R. Gill
Charles R. Gill
-Biography:Gill was born in Winfield, New York in 1830. In 1854 he moved to Watertown, Wisconsin. His son, Hiram Gill, would serve as Mayor of Seattle, Washington. He passed away in 1883.-Career:...
, a lawyer and Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
commander, later served as Wisconsin's attorney general. In 1889 Gill graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School
University of Wisconsin Law School
The University of Wisconsin Law School is the professional school for the study of law at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. The law school was founded in 1868.-Facilities:...
and moved to Seattle, where he worked first as a waiter at a waterfront restaurant. That June, the Great Seattle Fire
Great Seattle Fire
The Great Seattle Fire was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington, USA, on June 6, 1889.-Early Seattle:In the fall of 1851, the Denny Party arrived at Alki Point in what is now the state of Washington...
reconfigured Seattle. Gill soon became (as he had been during law school) a stenographer in a law firm, entering practice himself in 1892 and soon entering politics as a 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...
. As a lawyer, he defended saloonkeepers and brothel owners.
He was elected to the city council in 1898, reelected in 1900, defeated in 1902, but elected again in 1904, after which he held onto his seat, serving three years as council president before running for mayor in 1910 on an "open town" platform.
1910 campaign
At that time, the great divide in Seattle politics was between "open town" and "closed town" factions. The town had risen to prosperity by "mining the miners" of the 1897 Klondike Gold RushKlondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
, and then became a player in the emerging Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
trade. A prosperity based on miners and maritime trade inevitably carved out a large role for brothels, bars, and gambling dens. Open town advocates like Gill and Seattle Times publisher Alden J. Blethen
Alden J. Blethen
Alden J. Blethen was editor in chief of the Seattle Daily Times from August 10, 1896 until his death...
argued for the economic benefits of an "open town" while trying to keep these "vices" mostly confined to the area below Yesler Way, a major east-west road through what is now known as Pioneer Square
Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington
Pioneer Square is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of Downtown Seattle, Washington, USA. It was once the heart of the city: Seattle's founders settled there in 1852, following a brief six-month settlement at Alki Point on the far side of Elliott Bay. The early structures in the neighborhood...
. One of the most prominent figures on the other side of the debate was Presbyterian
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
minister Mark Matthews, who already in 1905 had faced off against Gill, accusing him of "condoning vice"; other opponents included other church groups, but also progressives
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
, prohibitionists
Prohibitionism
Prohibitionism is a legal philosophy and political theory often used in lobbying which holds that citizens will abstain from actions if the actions are typed as unlawful and the prohibitions are enforced by law enforcement...
, and women's suffragists
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
.
During the campaign Gill advocated a "restricted district" for prostitution. "Somewhere in this city, occupying about a hundredth of one per cent of its area, these unfortunates, whose lives are gone, most of them beyond recall, will go. They will go out of the resident districts and the apartment-houses and hotels of this city. They will stay out." And the "open town" issue was not simply about prostitution and gambling. "I want bands to play in Seattle," said Gill. "I want them to play on Sunday."
This was, of course, not the only issue in the campaign. Gill opposed municipal ownership of utilities, arguing not only for privatized transit, but for privatized waterworks, and opposing the then-young Seattle City Light
Seattle City Light
Seattle City Light is the public utility providing electrical power to Seattle, Washington and parts of its metropolitan area, including all of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park and parts of unincorporated King County, Burien, Normandy Park, Seatac, Renton, and Tukwila...
electric utility. He was generally anti-tax and anti-union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
.
First mayoralty
Gill promptly reinstalled as chief of police Charles "Wappy" Wappenstein, whom Gill's predecessor John F. Miller had dismissed as corrupt. Wappenstein promptly established a regime far more "open" than any that Gill had overtly advocated, and not just south of Yesler Way. "For the most part, the established population [of prostitutes and gamblers] still plied their vocations in the business and residential sections. The streets, the cafés, even the better class of hotels, were still crowded with prostitutes. The old conditions were as prevalent as before, and the segregated area was populated chiefly by new arrivals."
Every prostitute in Seattle was expected to pay $10 a month to "Wappy", and the police department made sure they paid. Beacon Hill
Beacon Hill, Seattle, Washington
Beacon Hill is a hill and neighborhood in southeast Seattle, Washington. The municipal government subdivides it into North Beacon Hill, Mid-Beacon Hill, Holly Park, and South Beacon Hill, though most people who live there simply call it "Beacon Hill." Home to the world headquarters of Amazon.com...
became home to a 500-room brothel
Lester Apartments
The Lester Apartments was a building in the west side of Beacon Hill, Seattle, Washington, USA. It was constructed in 1910–1, originally intended to be the world's largest brothel. After scandal forced Seattle mayor Hiram Gill from office, the building was converted to be an ordinary apartment house...
with a 15-year lease from the city. Gill fired Wappenstein, then brought him back.
Recall election
A petition to recall Gill began circulating, October 8, 1910; a sufficient number to force an election were turned in by December 20. Gill was the first U.S. mayor to undergo a recall election. Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
mayor A.C. Harper had resigned in the face of a proposed recall in 1909.
The same year that Gill was elected, the Washington State Legislature
Washington State Legislature
The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bipartisan, bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Senate, with 49 Senators.The State Legislature...
granted women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
. Thus, when Gill's opponents managed to force a February 9, 1911 recall election
Recall election
A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended...
, it was to a very different electorate, one that included 23,000 registered women voters, of whom 20,000 showed up at the polls. Real estate man George W. Dilling defeated Gill by a margin of 6,000 votes. Wappenstein was convicted of corruption and imprisoned; Times publisher Blethen and his son Clarence were also tried, but were acquitted. Gill ran again for mayor in March 1912, but progressive George F. Cotterill
George F. Cotterill
George Fletcher Cotterill , born in Oxford, England, was an American civil servant and politician. His public career in Seattle and the state of Washington lasted over 40 years; his politics were generally aligned with Progressivism...
won (with Socialist
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
Hulet Wells coming in second). Gill resumed the practice of law.
Comeback and second term as mayor
But Cotterill did not have an easy time in office. Labor troubles and the Potlach Riots of 1913 allowed Blethen at the Times to paint Cotterill as an ally of the Industrial Workers of the WorldIndustrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
(IWW), laying ground for Gill's political revival in the 1914 election. This time, though, Gill ran on a "closed town" platform and, remarkably, scored well with labor in the election. Under a new system, the mayoralty now had a four-year term.
Gill appointed progressive Austin Griffiths—one of his opponents for the mayoralty—as police chief. He maintained a more neutral stance toward City Light than before: while still by no means a proponent of public utilities, he no longer actively obstructed the utility, nor did he (as before) force it to take on the most unprofitable tasks while leaving all good opportunities to the private sector. When Washington "went dry" (prohibited alcohol) in 1916, Gill enforced it aggressively, with police raids extending even to the elite Rainier Club (and with police causing significant damage to raided establishments). He took labor's side in several (though not all) strike actions, and even spoke out on behalf of the IWW after the 1916 Everett Massacre
Everett massacre
The Everett Massacre was an armed confrontation between local authorities and members of the Industrial Workers of the World union, commonly called "Wobblies". It took place in Everett, Washington on Sunday, November 5, 1916...
, earning him the wrath of the Times (while doing nothing to ingratiate him with his longtime enemies at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
).
Downfall
But Gill was not quite cut out to be the reformer. Despite his early, dramatic prohibition raids, he—and his "progressive" police chief—were soon taking protection money from bootleggers. Seattle was back to being, in effect, an "open town", so much so that the U.S. Army declared it off-limits, which was not good for business. And in January 1918, Gill was disbarred for a year for unethical solicitation of legal work. Gill ran for reelection in 1918, but was trounced, and died less than a year later. He is interred at Evergreen Washelli Memorial ParkEvergreen Washelli Memorial Park
Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park originated in 1885. It is located on both sides of Aurora Avenue in Seattle, Washington, and occupies roughly . It is the largest cemetery in Seattle.-History:...
.