Thomas Taggart
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Thomas Taggart (November 17, 1856–March 6, 1929) was a U.S. political figure. Born in County Monaghan, Ireland, he went to the United States with his parents in 1861. The family settled in Xenia, Ohio, where young Taggart got a job working the lunch counter at the railroad depot. At age 18, he was sent by his employer to manage the depot restaurant and hotel in Garrett, Indiana, where he met his wife Eva Bryant Taggart, whom he married in 1878.
Taggart moved to Indianapolis in 1877 to run the restaurant at Union Depot. He became active in local politics and served as auditor of Marion County from 1886 to 1894 and as mayor of Indianapolis from 1895 until 1901.
He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1904 until 1908. Taggart played a key roll in ensuring the nomination of Thomas Riley Marshall as the Democratic nominee for Indiana Governor in 1908, and again in securing the Vice Presidential nomination for Marshall at the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore in 1912. On March 20, 1916, he was appointed by Governor Samuel M. Ralston to the United States Senate seat left vacant by the death of Senator Benjamin F. Shively, but he was defeated for the seat in the November election.
Taggart was famous for his ownership, with Terre Haute industrialist Crawford Fairbanks, of the French Lick Hotel in Orange County, Indiana, which he developed into a popular resort based on the mineral springs located there. He was also reputed to have an interest in the illegal gambling operations there that also contributed to the resort's popularity.
In the 1924 gubernatorial campaign Taggart urged front-runner Carleton B. McCulloch to take an anti-Klan position.[1]
Taggart remained active in national and state politics until his death in Indianapolis in 1929. He is remembered as the mayor who began the Indianapolis parks system. He is buried in Indianapolis in Crown Hill Cemetery.
[edit] References
James Philip Fadley, Thomas Taggart: Public Servant, Political Boss, Indianapolis:Indiana State Historical Society, 1997. ISBN 0-87195-115-0
Bennett, David J., "He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall", Authorhouse: Bloomington, Indiana, January, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4259-6562-4
| Preceded by Caleb S. Denny |
Mayor of Indianapolis 1901–1903 |
Succeeded by Charles A. Bookwalter |
| Preceded by Benjamin F. Shively |
United States Senator (Class 3) from Indiana 1916 |
Succeeded by James Eli Watson |
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Categories: Indiana politician stubs | 1856 births | 1929 deaths | Irish-American politicians | Irish-born United States political figures | Mayors of Indianapolis | United States Senators from Indiana | Democratic National Committee chairs | DeKalb County, Indiana | People from County Monaghan | People from Xenia, Ohio
