Daniel Ryan Sr. (1861/1862–1923) was an Irish-American politician who served as a member and president of the

Cook County Board of Commissioners The Cook County Board of Commissioners is a legislative body made up of 17 commissioners who are elected by district, and a president who is elected county-wide, all for four-year terms. Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago, is the Uni ...

Biography

Ryan was born in

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named afte ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. In his early twenties, he moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, settling in the Englewood neighborhood. In his early career in Chicago, he worked at the

Union Stock Yards The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, was the meatpacking district in Chicago for more than a century, starting in 1865. The district was operated by a group of railroad companies that acquired marshland and turned it into a centra ...

. At the Union Stock Yards, he would quickly become a successful buyer. He would later become a

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement m ...

contractor. He would become a prominent

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

politician, becoming the party's leader in Chicago's 32nd ward. Ryan was a charter member of the Englewood Council of the

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...

. He also was a 4th degree member of the LaSalle Assembly, a member of the St. Bernard's Holy Name Society, and a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters. In 1912, when there was a split in the local Democratic Party between those allied to Roger C. Sullivan and

Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne (October 12, 1853 – May 24, 1937) was an American politician who was the 24th Governor of Illinois from 1913 to 1917 and previously served as the 38th mayor of Chicago from April 5, 1905 to 1907. Dunne is the onl ...

and those who were allied with

Carter Harrison Jr. Carter Henry Harrison IV (April 23, 1860 – December 25, 1953) was an American newspaper publisher and Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician who served a total of five terms as mayor of Chicago (1897–1905 and 1911–1915) bu ...

and

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

, Ryan was allied with Harrison and Hearst.

Cook County Board of Commissioners

Ryan served on the

for nine years. He was elected to the board as a member from the city of Chicago in 1914. He would be reelected as a commissioner in 1918 and 1922. Ryan was a leading figure in the early building of the

Forest Preserve District of Cook County The Forest Preserve District of Cook County is a governmental commission in Cook County, Illinois, that owns and manages a network of open spaces, containing forest, prairie, wetland, streams, and lakes, that are mostly set aside as natural area ...

. After the 1921

death in office A death in office is the death of a person who was incumbent of an office-position until the time of death. Such deaths have been usually due to natural causes, but they are also caused by accidents, suicides, disease and assassinations. The deat ...

of board president Peter Reinberg, Ryan was selected to finish his term as board president. He formally assumed the office on February 26, 1921. He had been selected unanimously by the members of the board. He served until the end of Reinberg's term in December 1922. During his tenure of board president, the county led United States counties in road paving, and the county built a new juvenile home. Anton J. Cermak was chosen for the 1922 Democratic nomination for county board president over Ryan when the

Democratic Party of Cook County The Cook County Democratic Party is a political party which represents voters in 50 wards in the city of Chicago and 30 suburban townships of Cook County. The organization has dominated Chicago politics (and consequently, Illinois politics) sin ...

organization selected their

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

, a move that Parke Brown of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' attributed to Ryan's "alliance with Thompsonism".

Death

On May 26, 1923, Ryan was hospitalized after suffering a "stroke of apoplexy". Ryan died June 12, 1923, at the

University of Chicago Medical Center The University of Chicago Medical Center (UChicago Medicine) is a nationally ranked academic medical center located in Hyde Park on the South Side of Chicago. It is the flagship campus for The University of Chicago Medicine system and was establ ...

. He was 61 years old. Ryan was survived by his wife, Alice, five sons, and a daughter. He was buried at Chicago's Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Dan Ryan Jr. Daniel B. Ryan Jr. (1894 – April 8, 1961) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician who served as a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners from 1923 to 1926 and again from 1930 until his death in 1961. He was a Democrat. T ...

, Ryan's own son, was elected to fill his seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners. In 1924, the Beverly Hills preserve of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County was renamed "Daniel Ryan Woods" after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Daniel Sr. 1860s births 1923 deaths Illinois Democrats Presidents of the Cook County Board of Commissioners Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) Politicians from Chicago Politicians from County Tipperary