Thomas Taggart

Thomas Taggart (November 17, 1856 – March 6, 1929) was an Irish-American politician who was the political boss of the Democratic Party in Indiana for the first quarter of the twentieth century and remained an influential political figure in local, state, and national politics until his death. Taggart was elected auditor of Marion County, Indiana (1886–1894), and mayor of Indianapolis (1895 to 1901). His mayoral administration supported public improvements, most notably the formation of the city's park and boulevard system. He also served as a member of the Democratic National Committee (1900–1916) and as its chairman (1904–1908). Taggart was appointed to the U.S. Senate in March 1916, but lost the seat in the November election.

Taggart, an Irish-born immigrant, came to the United States in 1861 at the age of five, grew up in Xenia, Ohio, and moved to Indiana as a teenager. After relocating to Indianapolis in 1877, he began a successful career as an hotelier, financier, and politician. As the party's county chairman during Grover Cleveland's 1888 presidential campaign, Taggart helped him carry Marion County over Republican Benjamin Harrison, the hometown candidate. As state chairman in 1892, Taggart helped Cleveland carry Indiana in opposition to Harrison's bid for reelection. In 1908 Taggart assisted in securing the Democratic nomination of John W. Kern for U.S. vice president and Thomas R. Marshall for governor of Indiana. He was also involved in securing the nomination of Woodrow Wilson for U.S. president and Marshall for vice president in 1912, as well as James M. Cox's nomination in the 1920 presidential election. In addition to his political activities, Taggart was the owner and developer of the French Lick Springs Hotel in Orange County, Indiana; he also maintained a summer home at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

Thomas Taggart was born on November 17, 1856, to Thomas and Martha Kingsbury Taggart in Emyvale, County Monaghan, Ireland, and immigrated with his family to the United States in 1861 at the age of five. The Taggarts settled in Xenia, Ohio, where Thomas senior worked at a local railroad depot. Young Taggart left high school early to work full-time at the depot's hotel and restaurant. In 1875, when young Thomas was 18, his employer, the N. and G. Ohmer Company, sent him to Garrett, Indiana, to work in the restaurant at DeKalb House, a depot hotel. Thomas remained at Garrett until 1877, when he was transferred to Indianapolis, Indiana, to work as a clerk for the Ohmer company's dining hall/restaurant at the city's Union Depot. Known as a hard worker, Taggart became the depot restaurant's manager and eventually its sole owner in the new Union Station.

In 1878, a year after his move to Indianapolis, Taggart married Eva Dora Bryant, whom he met while living in Garrett. Thomas and his wife were the parents of six children, five daughters and one son. Florence Eva (1878–1899) died in a yachting accident in the Gulf of Mexico; Lucy Martha (1880–1960) became an accomplished artist and art educator at the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis; Nora (born 1881), a Vassar College graduate, married David L. Chambers, who became president and chairman of the Bobbs-Merrill Company; Irene Mary (born 1883) married a physician from Louisville, Kentucky; Emily Letitia (born 1888) married William R. Sinclair, an executive with Kingan and Company, an Indianapolis-based meatpacker; and Thomas Douglas (born 1886) graduated from Yale University and in 1912 assumed management of the French Lick Springs Hotel. Thomas and Eva Taggart also had nine grandchildren.

The Taggart family's primary residence was in Indianapolis, where they built a new home at 1331 North Delaware Street in 1913. The large home included a Georgian Colonial exterior and an Italian-style interior. It was selected as one of House Beautiful's three best homes in Indianapolis in 1920. The Taggarts were members of Saint Paul Episcopal Church in Indianapolis.

In 1901, after Taggart and a group of investors purchased the French Lick Springs Hotel in Orange County, Indiana, the Taggart family frequently visited the hotel. Its seven-story deluxe wing, completed in 1915, provided accommodations for the family when they were in residence.

The family also had a summer home built in 1915–16 at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. The home was called Amyvale, in honor of Taggart's Irish birthplace. In 1928 Joseph P. and Rose Kennedy acquired property adjacent to the Taggarts' Hyannis Port home to establish the Kennedy compound. The Taggarts' Hyannis Port home was sold after Eva's death, in 1937.

After his move to Indianapolis in 1877, Taggart began a successful career as an Indiana hotelier, financier, and politician. Taggart became the owner of the restaurant at the Indianapolis Union Station, but sold his restaurant business and began other ventures that included acquisition of two hotels in Indianapolis and the French Lick Springs Hotel in Orange County, Indiana, among other investments. Taggart also became a "powerful Democratic boss of the state," often referred to by his initials, T. T., or called "the Easy Boss" because of his congenial nature.