Editing Dorilus Morrison

{{Short description|American businessman and politician (1814–1897)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name          = Dorilus Morrison
| image         = Dorilus Morrison.jpg
| caption       = 
|order       = 1st and 3rd
|office      = Mayor of Minneapolis
| term_start     = April 13, 1869
| term_end       = April 12, 1870
| predecessor    = [[Hugh G. Harrison]]
| successor      = [[Eli B. Ames]]
| term_start1    = February 26, 1867
| term_end1      = April 14, 1868
| predecessor1   = ''Position Established''
| successor1     = [[Hugh G. Harrison]]
|state2      = Minnesota 
|state_senate2   = Minnesota 
|district2   = [[Minnesota Senate, District 5|5th]]
| term_start2    = January 5, 1864
| term_end2      = January 1, 1866
| predecessor2   = Rufus J. Baldwin
| successor2     = [[Curtis H. Pettit]]
| birth_date     = {{birth date|1814|12|27}}
| birth_place    = [[Livermore, Maine|Livermore]], Massachusetts (now part of [[Maine]]), US
| death_date     = {{death date and age|1897|6|26|1814|12|27}}
| death_place    = [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]], US
| party          = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] 
| signature      = Signature of Dorilus Morrison (1814–1897).png
| spouse         = {{unbulleted list
 | Harriet (Putnam) Morrison
 | (died 1880)
}}
| children       = {{unbulleted list
 | DeWitt Clinton Morrison
 | {{sup|(b. 1842; died 1913)}} 
 | George H. Morrison
 | {{sup|(b. 1843; died 1882)}} 
 | Grace E. (Kimball)
 | {{sup|(b. 1851; died 1907)}} 
}}
}}

'''Dorilus Morrison''' (December 27, 1814 – June 26, 1897) was an American banker, businessman, and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] politician.  He was the first and third [[List of mayors of Minneapolis|Mayor of Minneapolis]] and was a member of the [[Minnesota Senate]].

==Life and career==
Morrison was born in [[Livermore, Maine]]. His first business was as a merchant supporting the lumber industry near [[Bangor, Maine]]. In 1854, Morrison visited Minnesota to investigate potential lumber interests. He was sufficiently impressed that he sold his businesses in Maine and moved to St. Anthony, Minnesota within a year. He became involved in the local lumber and milling industries (along with his fellow Mainer [[William D. Washburn]]) and became an early investor in the Minneapolis Milling Company (forerunner of today's [[General Mills]]).<ref name=atwater>{{cite book|editor1-last=Atwater|editor1-first=Isaac|editor-link1=Isaac Atwater|title=History of the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Part II|date=1893|publisher=Munsell & Company|location=New York|pages=614–618|url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofcityofm02atwa#page/613/mode/2up}}</ref>

In 1863, Morrison was elected to represent the 5th district in the [[Minnesota State Senate]] and served from 1864 to 1865.<ref>{{cite web|title=Morrison, Dorilus — Legislator Record|url=http://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail.aspx?ID=14047|website=Minnesota Legislative Reference Library}}</ref> When the city of Minneapolis was formally incorporated in 1867, Morrison was elected as its first mayor. He was re-elected to a second term in 1869 and ran unsuccessfully for a third in 1872.<ref>{{cite web|title=Career of Dorilus Morrison|url=http://electiontrendsproject.org/search/search.php?candidate=62|website=Minnesota Election Trends}}</ref>

Morrison supported the initial construction of the [[Northern Pacific Railroad]] along with William Washburn, [[George A. Brackett]], [[William S. King]] and others.<ref name=atwater/> When the [[Norwest Corporation|Northwestern National Bank of Minneapolis]] was chartered in 1872, Morrison was its first president.<ref>{{cite web|title=A History of Minneapolis: Banking and Finance|url=http://www.mpls.lib.mn.us/history/bi2.asp|publisher=Minneapolis Public Library (mpls.lib.mn.us)|year=2001|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20020616120340/http://www.mpls.lib.mn.us/history/bi2.asp|archivedate=June 16, 2002 }}</ref> Around that same time, he began building a [[streetcar line]] in the city.  He joined with other businessmen, and eventually hired [[Thomas Lowry]], who got the line up and running in 1875.  The line eventually merged with a line in neighboring [[St. Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]] to become [[Twin City Rapid Transit]].

Morrison died in 1897.

==Electoral history==
*'''Minneapolis Mayoral Election, 1867'''
**'''Dorilus Morrison'''{{ref|a|a}}
*'''Minneapolis Mayoral Election, 1869'''
**'''Dorilus Morrison''' 859
**Henry G. Sidle 756
*'''Minneapolis Mayoral Election, 1872'''
**[[Eugene McLanahan Wilson]] 2,208	
**'''Dorilus Morrison''' 1,534

==Notes==
:{{note|a|a}}No specific record of the vote exists, only the result.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-new}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Mayor of Minneapolis]]|years=1867 – 1868}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Hugh G. Harrison]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Hugh G. Harrison]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Mayor of Minneapolis]]|years=1869 – 1870}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Eli B. Ames]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrison, Dorilus}}
[[Category:1814 births]]
[[Category:1897 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century mayors of places in Minnesota]]
[[Category:Mayors of Minneapolis]]
[[Category:Republican Party Minnesota state senators]]
[[Category:People from Livermore, Maine]]
[[Category:Politicians from Bangor, Maine]]
[[Category:Washburn family]]
[[Category:Burials at Lakewood Cemetery]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Minnesota Legislature]]