Willis Joshua Bailey was a Republican United States Representative from Kansas and the 16th Governor of Kansas. "Bailey's first political office was to the Kansas House of Representatives as a Republican from Nemaha County, (1889-1890). After his term he later served on the Kansas State Board of Agriculture,(1895-1899). He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the forty-sixth district and served from 1899 to1901. In the fall of 1902, Bailey was elected as the sixteenth Governor of Kansas, (1903-1905). The one term governor was appointed, in 1914, as director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Missouri." (Source: KSHS)
Time in Office: January 12, 1903 - January 9, 1905
Born: October 12, 1854, Carroll County, Illinois.
Died: May 19, 1932, Kansas City.
Republican farmer and banker from Baileyville (Nemaha County).
Baileyville,Ks. was named in honor of Governor Bailey.
Bailey was the Governor of Kansas when construction on the state capitol was completed, railroad commissioners and the office of state printer became elective positions, and a law banning gambling devices was sanctioned.
Member of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture (1895-1899)
On March 6, 1903, Governor Willis J. Bailey signed a Kansas Senate bill that authorized the establishment of Pittsburg State University.
Websites about this Governor
- Biography on Wikipedia
- Biography on the National Governors Association website
- Records of the Kansas Governor's Office: administration of Governor Willis Joshua Bailey (1903-1905)
- Message to the Kansas State Congress on the Kansas State Library website.
- Bailey Biography on the Federal Reserve History website.