Gov. Edward Wallis Hoch

About

EDWARD W. HOCH, the seventeenth governor of Kansas, was born in Danville, Kentucky on March 17, 1849. His education was attained in the public school system of his native state and at Central University in Danville. However, he left college before graduating, to learn the printing trade. In 1871, he moved to Kansas and settled in Marion, where he became the owner and publisher of the Marion Record. Hoch entered politics in 1889, serving as a member of the Kansas House of Representatives, a position he was reelected to in 1893, and at which time he also served as speaker. Hoch won the 1904 Republican gubernatorial nomination, and was sworn into the governorship on January 5, 1905. He was reelected to a second term in 1906. During his tenure, numerous new laws were enacted which included, a bank guaranty law, an anti-free pass act, a party primary law, a new pure food law, a child labor law, and a maximum freight rate bill. Also, a new three-man commission was authorized to review railroads, taxation measures were restructured, and improvements were sanctioned in the juvenile courts and in state institutions. After leaving office on January 11, 1909, Hoch returned to his publishing duties at the Marion Record. He also lectured on the Chautauqua circuit, where he became a well-known orator. He later served on the Kansas Board of Administration, a position he held from 1913 to 1919. Governor Edward W. Hoch died on June 1, 1925, and was buried at the Highland Cemetery in Marion, Kansas.

Source

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 2, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

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