Arizona's first governor, George W.P. Hunt, served 7 terms. Here's why
On our first Thanksgiving in Arizona, our family picnicked in Papago Park. While there we walked over and took a look at Governor George W.P. Hunt’s tomb. We were impressed by it. This was at the beginning of WWII. We kids asked my dad so many questions about the tomb that he read up on the governor.
We learned that George W.P. Hunt was born in Huntsville, Missouri, in 1859. When he was 18, he ran away from home. After nearly three and a half years of travel, the future governor arrived in Globe.
He had many different jobs while in Globe. He worked as a waiter, a “mucker” in the Old Dominion Mine, did some cattle ranching and was a delivery boy for Bailey’s General Store. Bailey’s was bought out by the Old Dominion Commercial Co. Ten years later, Hunt became president of Old Dominion Company in 1900.
He served several terms in the Territorial Legislature, including stints in both houses. From 1898 to 1904, he served as Gila County’s treasurer.
He married Helen Duett Ellison, daughter of a Globe rancher, in 1904. They had one daughter, Virginia. In 1905 he returned to the Territorial Council (today’s Senate), where he remained until statehood.
Following the Congressional Enabling Act of 1910, Hunt was elected a delegate to the State Constitution Convention, becoming its president. The charter for statehood was approved by the citizens of Arizona and by Congress. However, it was rejected by President William Howard Taft. Taft objected to the initiative process that was included in the constitution. Arizona removed the initiative component out of the state’s first constitution and statehood was finally granted on February 14, 1912, with Hunt serving as our first governor.
After statehood was achieved, Gov. Hunt and his fellow Arizonans put the initiative component right back into the constitution, where it exists to this day.
Governors served two-year terms from the advent of statehood through 1967. Between 1912 and 1933, Gov. Hunt served a total of seven terms as Arizona’s governor, not all consecutively. He initially lost his bid to serve a third term. He successfully appealed the election results to the Arizona Supreme Court and was seated for his third term on Dec. 25, 1917. In the early 1920s, taking a break from statewide office, Hunt served as the U.S. minister to Siam (today’s Thailand).
I’ve often wondered how Gov. Hunt managed to stay in the voters’ favor for such a long period of time. Apparently, he loved to campaign. He also loved traveling throughout the state, so he became very well-known by the citizens he served. He did not like having enemies. He went out of his way, all his life, to make friends of those people with whom he disagreed.
After Hunt’s wife died in 1931, he lost in the primary in the 1932 race. Helen was his greatest supporter and soul mate. She cared for the family and home and made his life a happy one. He never recovered from losing her. Gov. Hunt died on Christmas Eve in 1934 at the age of 75.
Reared on a local dairy farm, former Scottsdale city councilman (1971-76), state legislator (1979-85) and honored oral historian Paul Messinger founded Messinger Mortuaries in 1959. He can be reached at 480-860-2300 or 480-945-9521.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why Arizona Gov. George W.P. Hunt served 7 terms
