Edgar Hager

Edgar Browne Hager (1868–1935) was a criminal defense lawyer known for his oratory skills, mayor of Ashland, Kentucky, and president of the Kentucky Municipal League.

Early life and education Hager's father was Samuel Patton Hager, who worked as a lawyer in Ohio and later moved to Charleston, West Virginia to run a coal corporation. Hager came to Ashland with his parents in April 1881, becoming a student at Beech Grove Academy in 1884. After graduation he worked as a superintendent of schools in Catlettsburg, Kentucky then resigned to pursuit law studies.

In 1907, he was appointed state auditor's agent by his cousin, state auditor Samuel Wilber Hager.

In 1929, Hager was designated special judge in a case in the Floyd Circuit Court between J. H. Nunnery and the Pike Floyd Coal Company when the regular judge, C. B. Wheeler, was disqualified.

Political career Hager ran in the Democratic primary for the House of Representatives in Kentucky's 9th congressional district three times, in 1906, and 1910. In 1908, he was defeated by later US Representative James Nicholas Kehoe. In 1910, Hager was beaten by William J. Fields, who went on to become Governor of Kentucky. In 1918, during the final days of WWI and its immediate aftermath, Hager traveled to France with the YMCA.

In 1932, at the age of 64, Hager was elected mayor of Ashland, Kentucky. Immediately after becoming Mayor of Ashland he reached out to neighboring cities across state lines, such as Portsmouth, Ohio, to forge closer relationships. Hager engaged in the purchase of a police radio system, funded by Ashland's merchants. In 1933, he became the fifth person to be elected president of the Kentucky Municipal League, succeeding City Manager Paul Morton of Lexington. Hager, who had previously served as vice president of the league under Paul Morton, Edgar Hager was also first cousins with Judge John Franklin Hager (1852–1933) of Ashland, after whom the city's Hager Elementary School was named.

Edgar Hager married Lucie Vinson Prichard from Louisa, Kentucky on June 21, 1898. Ms. Hager died on January 20, 1902. By then Edgar Hager had two children, Edgar Browne Hager Jr. (1899–19??) and Virginia Patton Hager (1901–1979). In their later lives, Edgar Jr. lived in Ashland, Virginia in Louisa.

Hager died December 19, 1935, of a heart attack. He was buried at Ashland Cemetery.