Born in England, Ernest Lister came to Tacoma as a teen. An iron molder builder by trade, he served as Washington’s eighth governor from 1913 to 1919. Facing the twin problems of World War I and labor unrest, he tried to steer a middle course.
From Yorkshire to Tacoma
Ernest Lister was born on June 15, 1870, the youngest child of Jeremiah Hartley Lister (1830-1904) and Ellen Hey Lister (1833-1893), in Halifax, West Yorkshire. When Ernest was fourteen, the family moved to Tacoma to join his uncle David Lister (1821-1894), one-time New Tacoma mayor and a successful iron foundry owner.
A year later, Ernest Lister became an iron molder apprentice at his family’s Standard Iron Works (J.H. Lister & Sons). He also worked for a year at the A.B. Todd Machine Company’s foundry. A leader in the Tacoma Molders Union, Lister was also on the Tacoma Trades Council.
Lister married Alma Thornton (1867-1923) in 1893. The couple had two children: Florence (1894-1925) and John (1904-1930).
Alma proved herself to be her husband’s constant supporter. An active clubwoman, she once served as president of the Pierce County Women’s Democratic Association. During World War I, she was active with the Red Cross.
Lister’s Introduction to Politics
Lister became an American citizen in 1891. The “quickly magnetic” man was elected to the Tacoma city council for the Seventh Ward in 1894 as a Populist. A teetotaler, he was said to have voted against every saloon license application brought before the council.
But Lister had larger ambitions. He helped fellow Populist John Rogers campaign for governor in 1896. After his victory, Rogers appointed Lister chair of the new State Board of Control. The Board oversaw Washington’s welfare institutions.
As Populism lost support, Rogers (and Lister) switched to the Democratic Party in 1900. Rogers died in office in 1901. Lister continued in his position as chair until 1903, when Governor Henry McBride (a Republican) fired him.
Leaving politics, Lister refocused on business. He founded the Lister Construction Company with his brother Alfred in 1903. The company completed many public projects in Tacoma and across the state, from sewers to paving. In 1910, they formed the Lister Lumber Company, which manufactured porch columns and other finished wood products.
Becoming Washington’s Governor
But Lister had not left politics for good. In 1909, he unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House during a special election but lost. But he had won many votes. Enough that people began suggesting he could run for governor.
Lister threw his hat in the ring. In the 1912 primaries, he lost the Democratic Party’s governor nomination to Snohomish County Superior Court Judge W. W. Black. But in October, with only weeks left in the campaign, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled Black was an ineligible candidate. A sitting judge cannot run for a non-judicial office.
As runner-up, Lister became the Democratic Party’s nominee. He made several stops in Tacoma during his whirlwind campaign across the state. Newspapers hailed him as Tacoma’s “home candidate.”
Lister won—barely. King County Sheriff Robert Hodge ran for the Progressive Party, taking votes away from the Republicans. Lister was the only Democrat elected to statewide office.
Lister was sworn in January 1913. Elected as a social progressive and fiscal conservative, Lister got to work trimming the state budget and reforming the government. During his first term, he achieved many successes, working well with a Republican-dominated legislature. He signed bills banning the death penalty and created the Washington State Department of Agriculture. He turned the state’s deficit into a surplus.
Some of his reforms were less popular. He blocked major road spending bills, opting for a pay-as-you-go approach. Other cost-saving ideas, including creating a unicameral legislature with only 25 members, were rejected.
War!
Lister was reelected in 1916. Tacoma Democrats held a celebratory parade. With banners that celebrated “Oh, you Lister,” they hailed the coming of world peace. President Wilson had kept them out of war, right?
The following spring, the United States entered World War I. The war and labor unrest would dominate the rest of Lister’s governorship. While he authorized a secret service to spy on labor radicals like the IWW, he also vetoed a criminal syndicalism bill over civil liberty concerns in 1917.
Although a similar bill would pass in 1919, Lister tried to steer a middle course. He also continued to pass reforms, including a controversial statewide prohibition.
Died in Office
In March 1917, a mentally ill man attempted to enter the governor’s office with a gun. Lister was able to escape.
But the governor’s health was failing. Suffering from heart and kidney disease, he had kept his condition a secret for a year. The stress of the office worsened his condition. With a small staff, Lister was also more personally active in government than would be expected. But by February 1919, he had to take a leave of absence.
Lister passed away on June 14 at Seattle’s Swedish Hospital, surrounded by his family, a day before his 48th birthday.
Lister’s funeral was held at Tacoma’s First Methodist Church, where he and his wife were members. Stores, schools, and government offices closed. The Third Washington Infantry and fraternal organizations that Lister had belonged to led the procession to Tacoma Cemetery. Tacoma mourned what Mayor Crocket Riddell called “one of our big men.”
Ernest Lister was the third state governor to die in office and the first foreign-born state governor. As a reformer during a difficult time, he left a lasting legacy for his adopted home.