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PORTAGE PATHWAYS: 1913 victory put Davey on political path

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Roger Di Paolo
November 5, 2006

By Roger J. Di Paolo

Record-Courier Editor

When Kent voters went to the polls 93 years ago, they chose as their mayor, in the words of the Kent Courier, "an energetic young man" who had made a name for himself as a businessman and was "ambitious to do something that will advance his hometown."

And, in electing 29-year-old Martin Luther Davey to head their community in 1913, the people of Kent also set him on the path of a political career that would see him in the governor"s office a little more than 20 years later.

Davey was vice president of the Davey Tree Expert Co., the business organized by his father, John Davey, just a few years earlier. In addition to his involvement in the family business, Davey also was active in community affairs. Just a few years earlier, he had helped to organize the Kent Board of Trade and played a role in the efforts that led to the creation of Kent State.

The 1913 mayoral race was a generational contest. Davey was less than half the age of the 64-year-old incumbent, N.J.A. Minich, publisher of the Kent Bulletin, who was seeking a third term as mayor.

Davey criticized Minich for "four years of inaction" and, in his final message to voters, described the election as a choice between "standstill government" and progress. "Do you want a mayor who will simply mark time and make no effort toward progress or do you want one who will put initiative and energy into the affairs of the town to get something done?" he asked.

A key issue during the campaign was whether to pursue municipal ownership of the community"s water and electrical service. Nearly one-quarter of the municipality"s tax revenues was being spent on services provided by the Kent Lighting & Water Co., and many were dissatisfied with the firm"s service.

Davey and the Democratic slate for Village Council advocated municipal ownership of utitilies. So did Minich, but he found himself on the defensive in the aggressive campaign led by Davey.

Kent had other nagging concerns. The community was under an order from the State Board of Health to proceed with building a sewage system, and the question of paving East Main Street, according to the Courier, "has been held up so long that everybody is thoroughly disgusted."

When voters went to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 1913, they gave the energetic, young Democrat a resounding mandate. Davey won 616 votes to Minich"s 358, and the entire Democratic council ticket was swept into office with him.

"The time was ripe for an "issue" and Mr. Davey took advantage of things and made a case for municipal ownership," the Kent Courier reported.

Davey and the Democratic council, whose members included Alf Ravenscroft, H.J. Wright, Ira Marsh, James B. Miller, John Warth and Emmet Kline, took office in January 1914.

The new mayor set the tone for his administration in his opening remarks to Village Council. "We must be builders of the future," Davey said, who can "lay the foundation for a greater and better Kent."

"On matters of small importance, we shall yield to ... the majority," he said. "On matters of large importance, we shall stand firmly for what we think is right."

His closing words included a plea for "progress, courtesy and cooperation."

Martin L. Davey served three terms as mayor of Kent, cutting short his last one in 1918, when he was elected to the U.S. Congress. His administration saw the completion of a municipal sewage system -- voters approved a bond issue in 1915 by a margin of 576 to 16 after the state threatened to fine Kent $100 a day if it didn"t deal with the problem -- as well as the paving of East Main Street. But municipal ownership of the water system didn"t become a reality until the early 1920s, after Kent became a city.

The mayor"s office was only the first step in a long career in politics for Davey, who served four terms in Congress between 1918 and 1929. After losing a bid for governor in 1928, he went on to win the office in 1934, serving two terms as the state"s chief executive. After leaving office, he returned to Kent, where he headed Davey Tree until he died on March 31, 1946.




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