
Robert Moran (January 26, 1857 – March 27, 1943)
was a
Seattle shipbuilder who served as the
city's mayor from 1888 to 1890. Today he is primarily remembered for Moran Brothers Co. shipbuilders, his work as mayor to rebuild after the
Great Seattle fire, and his large estate on
Orcas Island, which became a resort and
Moran State Park
Moran State Park is a public recreation area on Orcas Island in Puget Sound's San Juan Islands in the state of Washington, United States. The state park encompasses over 5,000 acres of various terrain including forests, wetlands, bogs, hills, and ...
.
Biography

A native of
New York City, Moran was 18 when, in 1875, he arrived penniless in Seattle, a frontier outpost in the
Pacific Northwest, which had been settled in November 1851, and only incorporated between 1865 and 1869. After years of working on
steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
s
he earned enough money to send for his family and, by 1882, he and his brothers started a marine repair business at
Yesler's wharf. The
Moran Brothers Company prospered during the
Klondike Gold Rush when, among other projects, they built a fleet of twelve
paddlewheel riverboats (
hull Nos. 9–20), which were successfully delivered to the
Yukon River.
In 1888, 31-year-old Robert Moran was elected the
Republican mayor of Seattle. In those early years, the town's mayors were elected in July for a one-year term. Near the end of his service, on June 6, 1889, the
Great Seattle Fire destroyed most of the central business district. Moran's leadership in coordinating the recovery activities won him a second term in the following month's election. Through the period of his mayoralty, he was instrumental in the successful rebuilding of businesses, including Moran Bros., which was destroyed in the fire. His political connections were also very helpful in securing government contracts for his shipbuilding company. Among his administration's rebuilding efforts was the public overhaul of
Seattle's water system and the establishment of a
savings and loan association, which later became
Washington Mutual.

Following his mayoral service, Moran devoted all his efforts to his shipbuilding business and, in 1904, climaxed his career with his shipyard's launch of the
USS ''Nebraska'',
Washington state's only battleship. He was told in 1905 that he had one year to live, and retreated to
Orcas Island in
Puget Sound's
San Juans, where he built the
Moran Mansion—surrounded at that time by of land—that is now the centerpiece of Rosario Resort. He sold the shipbuilding company for an undisclosed price between US$2.5 and 3.5 million in 1906.
Moran spent the remainder of his life in retirement on Orcas Island. In 1916, he had a yacht built called the ''Sanwan'', though it seems that ship saw little use.
Influenced by chance encounters with conservationist
John Muir, he donated of Rosario to the state of Washington for preservation, which became
Moran State Park
Moran State Park is a public recreation area on Orcas Island in Puget Sound's San Juan Islands in the state of Washington, United States. The state park encompasses over 5,000 acres of various terrain including forests, wetlands, bogs, hills, and ...
in 1921. Following the death of his wife in 1932, he put the estate up for sale, however when he did finally sell it years later, it was at a fraction of its cost.
From there he moved into a smaller home on Orcas. He died in 1943 and was buried in the Moran family plot in
Lake View Cemetery in Seattle.
Notes
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moran, Robert
Politicians from New York City
Mayors of Seattle
American manufacturing businesspeople
Maritime history of Washington (state)
1857 births
1943 deaths
Shipbuilding in Washington (state)
Washington (state) Republicans