William Russell (governor)

Infobox Governor
name= William Eustis Russell


imagesize=150px
caption=
order=37th
office= Governor of Massachusetts
term_start= January 8, 1891
term_end= January 4, 1894
lieutenant= William H. Haile (1891-1893)
Roger Wolcott (1893-1894)
predecessor= John Q. A. Brackett
successor= Frederic T. Greenhalge
order2=
office2= Mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts
term_start2= 1885
term_end2= 1888
predecessor2=
successor2=
order3=
office3= Member of the Board of Alderman of Cambridge, Massachusetts
term_start3= 1883
term_end3= 1884
predecessor3=
successor3=
order3=
office4= Member of the Common Council of Cambridge, Massachusetts
term_start4= 1882
term_end4= 1882
predecessor4=
successor4=
birth_date= birth date|1857|1|6|mf=y
birth_place= Cambridge, Massachusetts
death_date= death date and age|1896|7|16|1857|1|6|mf=y
death_place=
spouse=
religion=
profession=
party= Democrat
footnotes=

William Eustis Russell (January 6, 1857 - July 16, 1896) was a U.S. political figure. He served as Democratic governor of Massachusetts between 1891 and 1894, becoming the youngest person ever elected Governor (age 34).

Russell was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard College in 1877, and received his law degree from the Boston University School of Law. He was Mayor of Cambridge 1884-1887, during which time he solicited a sizeable donation from philanthropist Frederick Hastings Rindge for Cambridge City Hall, a Manual Training School (now Cambridge Rindge and Latin School), and Cambridge's library. He also twice ran unsuccessfully for Governor, defeated by Oliver Ames and John Quincy Adams Brackett.

As Governor, Russell eliminated poll taxes in Massachusetts and began an inheritance tax. He advocated and signed a series of pro-labor laws and established the Trustees of Reservations to preserve open spaces. Russell's son, Richard Manning Russell, later also became Mayor of Cambridge and represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress in the 1930s. Russell is the great grandfather of Libertarian Carla Howell.

In 1903 the William E. Russell School was built at 750 Columbia Road in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. The school was designed by the architect James Mulcahy, and still serves as a Boston Public elementary school.

External links

* [http://www.mass.gov/statehouse/massgovs/wrussell.htm Official Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor Biography]