H. Russell Albee
{{short description|Oregon politician}}
{{Infobox Politician
| name = H. Russell Albee
| image = H. Russell Albee April 1905.jpeg
| office = 38th Mayor of Portland, Oregon
| caption = Albee in 1905
| term_start = 1913
| term_end = 1917
| predecessor = Allen G. Rushlight
| successor = George Luis Baker
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1867|09|08}}
| birth_place = Rockford, Illinois
| death_date = {{death date and age|1950|12|31|1867|09|08}}
| death_place = Portland, Oregon
| party = Progressive
| spouse =
| profession = businessman
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}}
Harry Russell Albee (September 8, 1867 – December 31, 1950) was mayor of Portland, Oregon, from 1913–1917.{{cite web|url=http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?a=4937&c=27134|title=City Elected Officials Since 1913|accessdate=May 29, 2012|publisher=City of Portland|archive-date=December 25, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151225055946/http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?a=4937&c=27134|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/02/politicians_and_scandal_a_port.html|title=Politicians and scandal: a Portland-area tradition|work=The Oregonian|date=February 19, 2009|accessdate=May 29, 2012|first=Fran|last=Genovese|archive-date=October 4, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004155328/http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/02/politicians_and_scandal_a_port.html|url-status=live}}
Early life
Albee was born in Rockford, Illinois.{{cite web|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/92001332_text|title=National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet: H. Russell Albee House|publisher=United States Department of the Interior|accessdate=May 29, 2012|archive-date=May 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508183931/https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/92001332_text|url-status=live}}{{cite news
|title=Ex-Mayor, reform leader, also survived recall move
|newspaper=The Oregonian
|page=9
|date=January 2, 1951
}}
Career
Elected mayor on June 2, 1913, Albee was the first mayor to preside over Portland's commission form of government, which had been approved by only a very small fraction more than a majority of city voters on May 3.{{cite book |last=MacColl|first=E. Kimbark|title=The Shaping of a City: Business and Politics in Portland, Oregon, 1885 to 1915|chapter=Chapter 14 – The Fruits of Progressivism, 1913–1915|location=Portland, Oregon|publisher=The Georgian Press Company|year=1976|isbn=0-89174-043-0|pages=443–445}} A recall effort against him and two commissioners in 1914 was unsuccessful. His administration gave attention to controversial matters including riverfront improvement, water meters, municipal garbage collection, vice, public transit rates, and slum housing conditions, but little was accomplished of long-range significance. By the end of his administration, the city had significantly cut back expenditures from the general fund, reducing it by 20 percent from $3.22 million to $2.5 million, even though the population of the city had grown by 5 percent since 1915. Paradoxically, the commission form of government came under fire for alleged waste and inefficiency.{{cite book |last=MacColl|first=E. Kimbark|authorlink=E. Kimbark MacColl|title=The Growth of A City|chapter=Chapter 1: Portland the Spinster Goes Dry|location=Portland, Oregon|publisher=The Georgian Press Company|year=1979|isbn=0-9603408-1-5|pages=28–30}} Portland remained the only large city in the United States to have a city commission form of government until 2025.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|H. Russell Albee}}
{{Mayors of Portland, Oregon}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albee, H. Russell}}
Category:20th-century mayors of places in Oregon