Dennie L. Farr

Dennie L. Farr
13th Mayor of the City of Holyoke, Massachusetts
In office
1893
Preceded byJeremiah F. Sullivan
Succeeded byMarciene H. Whitcomb
Treasurer of the City of Holyoke, Massachusetts
In office
1890–1893
Personal details
BornNovember 29, 1861
Chesterfield, New Hampshire
DiedMay 18, 1909(1909-05-18) (aged 47)
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Resting placeForestdale Cemetery
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Political partyRepublican[1]
SpouseAugusta Schaefer (m. 1886)[2]
Children3
Signature

Dennie L. Farr (November 29, 1861 – May 18, 1909)[3] was an American businessman and politician from Holyoke, Massachusetts. Born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire on November 29, 1861, to Lark L. and Mary (née Young) Farr, he attended school at Newark, Bellow's Falls, and Westminster, Vermont, and Swanzey, New Hampshire.[4]

In 1879 he moved to Holyoke, entering the employ of the Farr Alpaca Company, a local mill founded by a cousin, first as a millworker and later in its offices as paymaster and subsequently assistant treasurer, managing the salaries of the mill's more than 1000 employees.[2] On October 12, 1886, he married Augusta Shaefer of Windsor Locks, Connecticut; the couple had three children, one son and two daughters.[3]

Farr took an active interest in public affairs; an active member of the local Republican Party, he was elected to the city council from ward 5 in 1887, and subsequently as an alderman of ward 6 in 1888.[2] From 1890 to 1893 he served as treasurer to the city, and at the end of this term was elected mayor of Holyoke, serving in the latter for a single year term. The previous administration of Jeremiah Sullivan had received recommendation from a physician that new sewers were crucial to public health. While the previous administration determined requirements for the project, it was Farr's which worked with the Committee of Sewers and Drains to raise funds through bonds, and ultimately appropriate more than $300,000 for construction (equivalent to $8.1 million in 2016).[5][6]

Workers standing next to large-diameter pipe during construction of new sewers, c. 1893

Bids were put out for more than 50,000 linear feet of piping and in all more than $229,000 was expended on the project in that year.[6][7] During this time Farr presided over the construction of sewers for the neighborhoods of Elmwood, Oakdale, and Springdale, as well as two new school buildings. This work was especially important in that time, as only 20 years earlier in 1872, the city had the 2nd highest mortality rate in the Commonwealth and state health inspectors described many areas covered with "filth and green slime, [while] within twenty feet [tenants] lived in basements".[8] In his closing report to the city, Farr released a "statement of work" for the year which was described by a reporter for Springfield Republican as a "novel feature" that "had not been done before".[7] In the span of that year Farr reported that all construction of the necessary permanent improvements was performed without any overdraft from the treasury or suspension of funds. Farr himself later served as an auditor to the treasurer's office in 1896, and was also a member of the finance board of the local YMCA.[2][9] Ever involved in public life, Farr was also described as an active member of the Mount Tom Lodge A.F. & A.M., the Holyoke Turner Hall, and the Holyoke Canoe Club.[10]

Following a period of ill health Farr resigned from his positions in the Farr woolen mill in 1902.[3] From 1906 until his death he remained connected with his family's business as manager of its bonded warehouse connected with the plant.[4] Having been of ill health for several years, Farr died on May 18, 1909, in Holyoke at the age of 47 and was interred in Forestdale Cemetery.[2][4]

  1. ^ "Holyoke Republican Rally". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. December 11, 1898. p. 10. The Holyoke republicans held a rally at Turn hall last evening which was attended by about 300 people. Ex-Mayor Dennie L. Farr presided
  2. ^ a b c d e Cutter, William Richard; Crane, Ellery Bicknell; Gardner, Eugene C.; Read, Charles French; Ballard, Harland Hoge; Rantoul, Robert Samuel; Lockwood, John H.; Dyer, E. Alden (1916). Encyclopedia of Massachusetts, Biographical–Genealogical. Vol. VI. Boston: The American Historical Society, Inc. pp. 274–275.
  3. ^ a b c "New Hampshire Necrology – Hon. Dennie L. Farr". The Granite Monthly, A New Hampshire Magazine. XLI (5): 176. May 1909.
  4. ^ a b c "Death of Dennie L. Farr". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. May 19, 1909. p. 12.
  5. ^ Westegg Inflation Calculator
  6. ^ a b Stauffer; Wellington, eds. (January 12, 1893). "Sewers". Engineering News and American Railway Journal. XXIX: 47. Retrieved 25 December 2017. HOLYOKE , MASS.—It is reported that $300,000 will be spent this year in constructing sewers. A system is needed, according to Mayor Farr, in Elmwood, Oakdale, and Springdale.
  7. ^ a b "Holyoke Officials Report: Last Message from Mayor Farr". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. December 30, 1893. p. 8.
  8. ^ Cumbler, John T. (2001). Reasonable Use: The People, the Environment, and the State, New England.... Oxford University Press. p. 47.
  9. ^ "City Treasurer's Report". Municipal Register for the City of Holyoke for 1896. Holyoke: M.J. Doyle Printing Company. January 4, 1897. p. 339.
  10. ^ The Leading Citizens of Hampden County, Massachusetts. Bibliographical Review. Boston: Bibliographical Review Publishing Company. 1916. pp. 401–402.