Hiram Gill

Hiram C. Gill (August 23, 1866 – January 7, 1919) was an American lawyer and two-time Mayor of Seattle, Washington, identified with the "open city" politics that advocated toleration of prostitution, alcohol, and gambling.

Rise Gill was born in 1866 in Watertown, Wisconsin. His father, Charles R. Gill, a lawyer and Civil War commander, later served as Wisconsin's attorney general. In 1889 Gill graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School and moved to Seattle, where he worked first as a waiter at a waterfront restaurant. That June, the Great Seattle Fire reconfigured Seattle. Gill soon became (as he had been during law school) a stenographer in a law firm, entering practice himself in 1892 and soon entering politics as a Republican. A petition to recall Gill, drafted by Adella Parker, began circulating on October 8, 1910; a sufficient number to force an election were turned in by December 20. Gill was the first U.S. mayor to undergo a recall election. He was elected to the city council in 1898, reelected in 1900, defeated in 1902, but elected again in 1904, after which he held onto his seat, serving three years as council president before running for mayor in 1910 on an "open town" platform. The town had risen to prosperity by "mining the miners" of the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush, and then became a player in the emerging Pacific trade. A prosperity based on miners and maritime trade inevitably carved out a large role for brothels, bars, and gambling dens. Open town advocates like Gill and Seattle Times publisher Alden J. Blethen argued for the economic benefits of an "open town" while trying to keep these "vices" mostly confined to the area below Yesler Way, a major east–west road through what is now known as Pioneer Square. And the "open town" issue was not simply about prostitution and gambling. "I want bands to play in Seattle," said Gill. "I want them to play on Sunday."

This was, of course, not the only issue in the campaign. Gill opposed municipal ownership of utilities, arguing not only for privatized transit, but for privatized waterworks, and opposing the then-young Seattle City Light electric utility. He was generally anti-tax and anti-union.

Every prostitute in Seattle was expected to pay $10 a month to "Wappy", and the police department made sure they paid. Beacon Hill became home to a 500-room brothel with a 15-year lease from the city. Gill fired Wappenstein, then brought him back. began circulating on October 8, 1910; a sufficient number to force an election were turned in by December 20. Gill was the first U.S. mayor to undergo a recall election. Los Angeles, California mayor A.C. Harper had resigned in the face of a proposed recall in 1909.

Comeback and second and third term as mayor But Cotterill did not have an easy time in office. Labor troubles and the Potlach Riots of 1913 allowed Blethen at the Times to paint Cotterill as an ally of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), laying ground for Gill's political revival in the 1914 election. This time, though, Gill ran on a "closed town" platform and, remarkably, scored well with labor in the election. He was re-elected in 1916. (and with police causing significant damage to raided establishments). He took labor's side in several (though not all) strike actions, and even spoke out on behalf of the IWW after the 1916 Everett Massacre, earning him the wrath of the Times (while doing nothing to ingratiate him with his longtime enemies at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer). And, despite those raids, he—and his "progressive" police chief—were soon taking protection money from bootleggers. Seattle was back to being, in effect, an "open town", so much so that the U.S. Army declared it off-limits, which was not good for business. And in January 1918, Gill was disbarred for a year for unethical solicitation of legal work. Gill ran for reelection in 1918, but was trounced, and died less than a year later. He is interred at Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park.