Walter H. Butler

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Walter Halben Butler (February 13, 1852 – April 24, 1931) was a lawyer, teacher, newspaper publisher, and one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 4th congressional district, then located in northeastern Iowa.

Biography

Born in Springboro, Pennsylvania on February 13, 1852,Template:Sfn Butler moved to Minnesota in 1868 with his parents, who settled in Mankato, in Blue Earth County.Template:Sfn He attended public and private schools, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1875.Template:Sfn He was a wrestler and sprinter there, and is credited as the first to run the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds.

After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1875 and commenced practice in Princeton, Wisconsin.Template:Sfn He moved to Iowa in 1876 and taught school at La Porte City until 1878, and at Manchester until 1880.Template:Sfn

He moved to West Union, Iowa, in 1883 and became owner and publisher of the Fayette County Union.Template:Sfn From 1885 to 1889, he served as superintendent of the Railway Mail Service's tenth division, at St. Paul, Minnesota.Template:Sfn He returned to West Union, and resumed his former newspaper pursuits.Template:Sfn

In 1890, Butler was nominated as a Democrat to run against incumbent Republican U.S. House Representative Joseph Henry Sweney from the 4th congressional district.Template:Sfn After defeating Sweney in the general election as part of a Democratic landslide, he served in the Fifty-second Congress.Template:Sfn In 1892 he was defeated in his first re-election bid, by former Republican Congressman Thomas Updegraff.Template:Sfn Butler served in Congress from March 4, 1891 to March 3, 1893.Template:Sfn

After leaving Congress, he returned to northeastern Iowa for five years.Template:Sfn He moved to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1897 and to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1907.Template:Sfn He engaged in the real estate and loan business and, later in banking.Template:Sfn He died in Kansas City on April 24, 1931.Template:Sfn He was interred at Forest Hill Calvary Cemetery in Kansas City.Template:Sfn

External links

• Template:PAGENAMEBASE at Find a GraveTemplate:EditAtWikidata