Henry Horner

Henry Horner (November 30, 1879 – October 6, 1940) was a Democratic governor of Illinois, serving from 1933 to 1940. He died in office.

First elected in 1932, Horner served during the difficult years of the Great Depression. Because of a fiscal crisis facing Illinois during his first term in office, he was forced to ask the General Assembly for new tax revenue. In 1933, he signed Illinois's first permanent sales tax law into effect with an inaugural rate of 2.0%. Horner also signed a bill in 1935 increasing the Illinois sales tax rate to 3.0%.

Horner was born in Chicago, and attended the University of Chicago. He was a lawyer and served as probate judge from 1915 to 1931. He is interred at Mt. Mayriv Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery in Chicago. In Ingleside, IL, a suburb of Chicago, there is a Jewish summer camp in his name, Camp Henry Horner. Horner was the first Jewish governor of Illinois.

Horner, a lifelong bachelor, collected Lincoln-related memorabilia and bequeathed it to the people of Illinois. The Horner Collection is now stored and partly displayed in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

Horner Park, located in Chicago, is a 55 acre facility bordered by Montrose Avenue to the north, Irving Park Road to the south, California Avenue to the west, and the north branch of the Chicago River to the east.

Books

* (2007) Charles J. Masters, "Governor Henry Horner, Chicago Politics, And The Great Depression". Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-8093-2739-2.

Thomas Littlewood, Horner of Illinois 1969

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