History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Thomas D. Healy
THOMAS D. HEALY was born in Lansing, Iowa, May 25, 1865, and secured a good education in Notre Dame University, Indiana, and the Law Department of the Iowa State University. He removed to Fort Dodge where he engaged in the practice of law, and was for five years city solicitor. He was an active Republican and served on the committee on resolutions in the Republican State Convention of 1893. In 1895 he was elected to the State Senate for the district composed of the counties of Calhoun and Webster, serving by reëlection in the Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth General Assemblies. He was the most influential advocate and founder of the system of placing the public institutions of the State under the management of a non-partisan Board of Control. He had gathered facts and statistics relating to the working of this system in other States which were powerful factors in overcoming the opposition to that policy and greatly aided in the enactment of the law. After the system had been adopted Mr. Healy was influential in securing the appointment of men of the highest character and qualifications for members of the board.