L. B. Hanna

Infobox Governor
name = Louis B. Hanna


order = 11th
office = Governor of North Dakota
term_start = 1913
term_end = 1917
lieutenant = Anton T. Kraabel (1913–1914)
John H. Fraine (1915–1916)
predecessor = John Burke
successor = Lynn Frazier
birth_date = August 9, 1861
birth_place = New Brighton, Pennsylvania
death_date = April 23, 1948
death_place = Fargo, North Dakota
party = Republican
spouse =
profession =
religion =

Louis Benjamin Hanna (b. August 9 1861, New Brighton, Pennsylvania – d. April 23 1948, Fargo, North Dakota) came to the Dakota Territory in 1881 with his brother, Robert C. Hanna and began farming near what is now Hope, North Dakota.

He sold his land in 1882 and moved to Page where he began his career as a businessman. He started a retail lumber company, then expanded into grain handling. Soon he needed banking facilities, so he opened a private bank at Page. The bank became a state bank, then became the First National Bank of Page, with Hanna as the president.

From 1895 to 1897, Hanna served in the North Dakota House of Representatives. Hanna moved to Fargo in 1899, serving as vice president of the First National Bank of Fargo. Hanna took on the North Dakota State Senate from 1897 to 1901, and again from 1905 to 1909, representing the Fargo district this time.

In 1908, Louis Hanna was elected to represent North Dakota in the United States House of Representatives where he served two terms, from 1909 to 1913. Without any lapse between positions, he became the eleventh Governor of North Dakota in 1913. During Hanna's term as governor, he, his family, and a committee went to Norway. On July 4 1914 at Christiania (Oslo), they presented the people of Norway with a statue of Abraham Lincoln. Later, King Haakon VI decorated Gov. Hanna as a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav of the First Rank.

Governor Hanna served as chairman of the Liberty Loan drives in 1917 and 1918. During World War I he served in France as a captain in the American Red Cross. He was cited as an officer of the French Legion of Honor by the French government. Hanna continued his business interests in agriculture, banking, and other enterprises until his retirement.

He died in 1948, aged 86, in Fargo, North Dakota.