Chester Hardy Aldrich

Aldrich was born in Pierpont in Ashtabula County, Ohio. He married Sylvia Estelle Stroman on June 4, 1889,{{cite web|title=Chester Hardy Aldrich|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/aldredge-aleshire.html|publisher=The Political Graveyard|access-date=September 18, 2012}} and they had five children. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a Freemason and a Knight Templar. He died in office on March 10, 1924.

After he graduated from the prep school at Hillsdale College in Michigan, Aldrich entered the Ohio State University as a freshman in 1884. While at Ohio State he became a champion orator, served as an editor of The Lantern, and in 1886 became the captain of an abortive first attempt at forming an Ohio State University football team.{{cite book |last=Roman |first=Robert J. |date=2017 |title=Ohio State Football: The Forgotten Dawn |publisher=University of Akron Press |isbn=978-1629220666 }} He graduated from Ohio State in 1888 with an A.B.{{cite web|title=Chester Hardy Aldrich|url=http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/resources/OLLibrary/Comp_NE/cmp0101.htm|publisher=Compendium of History, Reminiscence and Biography|access-date=September 18, 2012}}

In a commencement address, delivered at his university soon after he was elected governor of Nebraska, he offered his views on the topic of "Progressive Citizenship." {{cite web|title=Progressive Citizenship|url=http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/APA/Ohio/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=Osuam%2F1911%2F07%2F01&id=Ar05100&sk=B3F606F2|publisher=OSU Alumni Magazine, July 1911|access-date=September 28, 2017}}

Aldrich settled in Ulysses, Nebraska, where he worked as a high school principal and livestock rancher while he studied law.{{cite book|title=Chester Hardy Aldrich|date = January 1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rWkP0DM_upwC&pg=PA106|publisher=The Encyclopedia of Nebraska|isbn = 9780403098347|access-date=September 18, 2012}} He passed the Nebraska Bar in 1890 and began practicing law in David City. He served as mayor of David City and was elected to the Nebraska State Senate in 1906. As a state senator, he wrote the Railway Commission Law and the Aldrich Freight Rate Law, which attacked the power of the Nebraska railroad trusts. When the laws were brought to Federal Court, Aldrich personally served as counsel for the state and the laws were sustained.{{cite web|title=Hon. Chester H. Aldrich: Governor of Nebraska|url=http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/tc/id/38339|publisher=University of Iowa Digital Library|access-date=September 28, 2017}}

In 1910, with support from Populist Democrat William Jennings Bryan, and over opposition of the trusts, Aldrich was elected governor of Nebraska.{{cite web|title=Nebraska State Historical Society: The Nebraska Democratic Campaign of 1910|url=http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1971NebDemCampaign.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906140359/http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1971NebDemCampaign.pdf|url-status=usurped|archive-date=September 6, 2015|publisher=Nebraska State Historical Society|access-date=September 28, 2017}} During his tenure as governor, a co-operative association act was sanctioned; a board of control for state institutions was established; a sanitary health bill was authorized; and a road program was initiated.{{cite web|title=Chester Hardy Aldrich|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_nebraska/col2-content/main-content-list/title_aldrich_chester.html|publisher=National Governors Association|access-date=September 18, 2012}}

In 1911, Aldrich appointed a three-man commission to arrange, compile, and codify the Nebraska state statutes. Alfred M. Post became chairman of the commission, serving with Edwin L. King and John H. Broady.{{cite news| last =| first =| date =April 23, 1911| title = Governor Appoints| newspaper =Lincoln State Journal| page =4| url =| access-date = | quote = }}

Aldrich served as governor until 1913. In 1918, he was elected as a justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court and remained in that position until his death.

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• [http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_nebraska/col2-content/main-content-list/title_aldrich_chester.html National Governors Association]
• {{cite web |title=Cornhusker Connections |work=Ashtabulans in Nebraska |url=http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohashtab/Cornhuskerconnect2.htm |access-date=January 20, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040322114501/http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohashtab/Cornhuskerconnect2.htm |archive-date=March 22, 2004 }}
• {{cite web |website=The Political Graveyard |title=Aldrich, Chester Hardy |url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/aldredge-aleshire.html#RGQ19OWEL |access-date=January 5, 2006 }}

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{{s-bef|before=George L. Sheldon}}

{{s-ttl|title=Republican nominee for Governor of Nebraska|years=1910, 1912}}

{{s-aft|after=Robert B. Howell}}

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{{succession box | before = Ashton C. Shallenberger |title=Governor of Nebraska | years = 1911–1913 | after = John H. Morehead}}

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{{Governors of Nebraska}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aldrich, Chester Hardy}}

Category:People from Ashtabula County, Ohio

Category:Republican Party governors of Nebraska

Category:Republican Party Nebraska state senators

Category:Justices of the Nebraska Supreme Court

Category:Nebraska state court judges

Category:Hillsdale College alumni

Category:Methodists from Nebraska

Category:1863 births

Category:1924 deaths

Category:People from David City, Nebraska

Category:Mayors of places in Nebraska

Category:People from Butler County, Nebraska

Category:Ohio State Buckeyes football players

Category:20th-century members of the Nebraska Legislature