Hempstead Washburne

Hempstead Washburne (November 11, 1851April 13, 1918) was a Republican attorney and politician from Illinois who served as Mayor of Chicago from 1891 to 1893. He was the son of United States Secretary of State Elihu B. Washburne. Biography Hempstead Washburne was born in Galena, Illinois on November 11, 1851, and attended Maine's Kents Hill School. He studied at the University of Bonn in Germany, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1874. In 1875, he completed supplemental legal education at Union College of Law (now Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law). Washburne practiced law in Chicago. In 1880 he was appointed master in chancery for the Superior Court of Cook County. In 1885 he was elected Chicago city attorney. He was reelected in 1887, but declined to run again in 1889. In 1891, Washubrne was elected as mayor of Chicago, defeating Democratic incumbent DeWitt Cregier in a four-way race which also included former mayor Carter Harrison Sr. (running as an independent Democrat) and Washburne's own cousin once-removed Elmer Washburn. Washburne was sworn in as mayor on April 27, 1891. As mayor, he presided over development of the World's Columbian Exposition. He did not seek reelection 1893, and was succeeded as mayor by Democrat Carter Harrison Sr. on April 17, 1893.