Wisconsin Senate, District 16
The 16th District of the Wisconsin Senate is located in south-central Wisconsin, and is currently composed of parts of Columbia, and Dane counties. The district contains part of Madison, the capital city.[1]
| Type | District of the Upper House |
|---|---|
| Location |
|
Senator | Mark F. Miller (D) |
Parent organization | Wisconsin Legislature |
| Website | District Website |
Current elected officials
Mark F. Miller is the senator serving the 16th district. He was first elected in 2004, and has been re-elected to a four-year terms ever since. Before serving as a senator, he held an office in the State Assembly from 1999 to 2005.[2]
The area of the 16th Senate District contains three State Assembly Districts:[3]
- the 46th (represented by Gary Hebl)
- The 47th (represented by Jimmy P. Anderson)
- The 48th (represented by Melissa Sargent).
The district is also located partly within Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district, which is represented by U.S. Representative Mark Pocan, and partly within Wisconsin's 6th congressional district, which is represented by U.S. Representative Tom Petri.[4]
Past senators
Previous senators include:[5]
- Charles Chvala, 1985-2003
- Carl W. Thompson, 1959-1984
- Gaylord Nelson, 1949-1958
- Helmar Lewis, 1941-1944
- Edward J. Roethe, 1925-?, 1937-1941
- Henry Edgar Roethe, 1917-1924
- Robert Glenn, 1913-1916
- John J. Blaine, 1909-1912 (later the 24th Governor of Wisconsin and a United States Senator)
- Edward E. Burns, 1901-1908
- Charles H. Baxter, 1893-1900
- Edward I. Kidd, 1885-1893
- Oscar Clark Hathaway, 1876-1879
- John Chandler Holloway, 1872-1875
The boundaries of districts have changed repeatedly over history. Previous politicians of a specific numbered district have represented a completely different geographic area, due to redistricting. In the original constitution of the State of Wisconsin, it is stated that "The towns of Southport, Pike, Pleasant Prairie, Paris, Bristol, Brighton, Salem and Wheatland, in the county of Racine, shall constitute the sixteenth senate district."[6] (At that time, Racine County included what in 1850 would become Kenosha County; and the city later known as Kenosha was still called "Southport".)
The first Senator to represent the 16th District was
- Christopher Latham Sholes, at that time a Democrat 1848-1849 (Sholes is best known to history as the co-creator of the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, the first commercially successful typewriter)
- Elijah Steele 1850
- Orson Head 1851 (great-grandfather and namesake of Orson Welles)
The Legislature was re-districted in 1851, and the new 16th District was based in Milwaukee; it elected:
- John Sharpstein, 1852
The Legislature expanded for the 1853 session, and the new 16th District consisted of Grant County. It elected:
- Joel C. Squires, who resigned May 1, and was replaced by
- James Wilson Seaton for the rest of the 1853 session
Notes
- Wisconsin Blue Book, 2011-12 edition, page 50. ISBN 978-0-9752820-1-4.
- Wisconsin Blue Book, 2011-12 edition, page 50. ISBN 978-0-9752820-1-4.
- Wisconsin Blue Book, 2011-12 edition, page 50. ISBN 978-0-9752820-1-4.
- Wisconsin Blue Book, 2011-12 edition, page 17. ISBN 978-0-9752820-1-4.
- Wisconsin Blue Book, 1991-92 edition, Statistics: History, pages 657-666.
- Manual for the Use of the Assembly, of the State of Wisconsin, for the year 1853. Prepared Pursuant to a Resolution of the Assembly. Madison: Brown & Carpenter, Printers; 1853