View source for Wallace G. Nye

{{Short description|American politician (1859–1926)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix   =
| name               = Wallace G. Nye
| image              =Wallace G Nye.jpg
| image_size         =
| caption            = Wallace George Nye, c. 1897
| order              = 25th
| office             = Mayor of Minneapolis
| term_start         = 1913
| term_end           = 1917
| predecessor        = [[J. C. Haynes]]
| successor          = [[Thomas Van Lear]]
| birth_name      = Wallace George Nye
| birth_date      = {{Birth date|1859|10|07|mf=y}}
| birth_place     = [[Hortonville, Wisconsin]], U.S.
| death_date      ={{death date and age|1926|3|4|1859|10|07}}
| death_place     =[[Minneapolis, Minnesota]], U.S.
| alma_mater      =[[University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh]]
| residence       =
| constituency    =
| children        =
| party           =[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| spouse          =
| profession      =Educator, druggist
| signature       =
| footnotes       =
}}
'''Wallace George Nye''' (October 7, 1859 &ndash; March 4, 1926) was the [[List of mayors of Minneapolis|25th mayor]] of [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]] from 1913 to 1917.
==Life and career==
Nye was born in [[Hortonville, Wisconsin]] in 1859. He attended local schools and the [[University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh]] and spent several years after college working as a school principal. In 1881, he left for [[Chicago, Illinois]] to study [[pharmacy]]. Instead of returning home to Wisconsin after finishing, he decided to relocate to Minneapolis and began a drug business there. He also became active in local [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] politics, winning election as Minneapolis [[comptroller]] in 1892 to 1894 and also serving on the park board.<ref name=shutter>{{cite book|last1=Shutter|first1=Marion Daniel|title=Progressive Men of Minnesota|date=1897|publisher=The Minneapolis Journal|location=Minneapolis|page=86|url=https://archive.org/stream/progressivemenof00shut#page/86/mode/1up}}</ref> In 1905, Nye was a leading member of the Minneapolis Public Affairs Committee, a non-governmental organization dedicated to the business and municipal affairs of the city.<ref name=NEM>
{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OqYTAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Wallace+Nye%22+%2BMinneapolis|title=City of Minneapolis|author=Danenbaum, Ruby|date=September 1905|work=New England Magazine|page=62|accessdate=28 October 2010}}</ref>
He was elected mayor in 1912, defeating [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] Charles Gould and [[Socialist Party (United States)|Socialist]] [[Thomas Van Lear]].<ref name=MNH>{{cite journal|journal=Minnesota History|publisher=[[Minnesota Historical Society]]|url=http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/45/v45i01p002-010.pdf|title=Minneapolis and the Pragmatic Socialism of Thomas Van Lear|page=6|author=Nord, David Paul|year=1976|accessdate=28 October 2010}}</ref> During his term as mayor, Nye was involved in a controversy over the exhibition of the film ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' in Minneapolis. Nye opposed the showing of the film and stated he would put a stop to it, but a district court judge issued an injunction ordering Nye not to interfere. When that injunction was reversed just a week later, screenings of the film were stopped out of fear Nye would intervene. Nye eventually accepted a proposal to form a public censorship committee to review the film and to abide by their decision. When the committee met and a majority approved the film, Nye stood aside and let the film be shown.<ref name=TWPS>{{cite book|title=Twin Cities Picture Show: A Century of Moviegoing|author=Kenney, Dave|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|year=2007|isbn=978-0-87351-595-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/twincitiespictur0000kenn/page/30 30]-31|url=https://archive.org/details/twincitiespictur0000kenn|url-access=registration|quote=Wallace Nye minneapolis.}}</ref>
Nye was defeated by Van Lear in the 1916 mayoral election, mainly due to a financial scandal involving financing of the city's [[streetcar]] system and Nye's supplying of police protection to [[scab worker]]s during a general [[Teamsters Union|Teamsters]] strike.<ref name=FLMH>
{{cite thesis|url=http://justcomm.org/fla-hist.htm|title=Toward the Cooperative Commonwealth: An Introductory History of the Farmer-Labor Movement in Minnesota (1917-1948)|degree= [[Ph.D.]]|last= O'Connell|first= Thomas Gerald|year= 1979|publisher= [[Union Institute & University]]|accessdate= 28 October 2010}}</ref>
Nye died at his home in Minneapolis on March 4, 1926.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/117332663/one-time-mayor-of-minneapolis-w-g/ |title=One Time Mayor of Minneapolis, W. G. Nye, Dead |newspaper=[[The Post-Crescent]] |location=New London |page=10 |date=1926-03-05 |access-date=2023-01-26 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He is buried at [[Lakewood Cemetery]] in Minneapolis.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{Find a Grave}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nye, Wallace G.}}
[[Category:20th-century mayors of places in Minnesota]]
[[Category:Mayors of Minneapolis]]
[[Category:1859 births]]
[[Category:1926 deaths]]
[[Category:Minnesota Republicans]]
[[Category:University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh alumni]]
[[Category:People from Hortonville, Wisconsin]]