Dorilus Morrison

Dorilus Morrison (December 27, 1814–June 26, 1898) was a banker, businessman, and politician who lived in the U.S. state of Minnesota. He was the first and third mayor of Minneapolis. Morrison was born in Livermore, Maine. He was the cousin of William D. Washburn, who also moved to Minneapolis. Washburn became a noted area businessman and later a U.S. Senator.

Dorilus Morrison was elected to represent the 5th district in the Minnesota State Senate and served from 1864 to 1865. He served two non-consecutive terms as mayor of Minneapolis in 1867–68 and 1869–70. When the Northwestern National Bank of Minneapolis was chartered in 1872, Morrison was its president. Later the bank and its holding company survived the Great Depression and became Wells Fargo. Around that same time, he began building a streetcar line in the city. He joined with other businessmen, and eventually hired Thomas Lowry, who got the line up and running in 1875. The line eventually merged with a line in neighboring St. Paul to become Twin City Rapid Transit.

After Morrison died, his body was interred at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.

Notes

References

• The Political Graveyard: Morrison, accessed January 30, 2004