March of the Governors, Governor #8, John Pillsbury

John Pillsbury, a Republican, served three terms as governor of Minnesota from January 1876 to January 1882. An immigrant from New Hampshire, Pillsbury made a fortune in the grain milling business in the company that still carries his name. He also had a strong commitment to public life. Serving in the state senate from St. Anthony, Pillsbury was a major force in the establishment of the University of Minnesota. As governor, he championed accountable and efficient government and struggled to find a humane response to the grasshopper plague that devastated thousands of farms in Western and West Central Minnesota. That response included opening his own purse. Pillsbury remained a widely admired public figure until his death in 1901 at the age of seventy four.