Thomas R. Amlie was a longtime Wisconsin Progressive movement leader who served three terms as a United States Congressman, 1930, 1934 and 1936. He later shifted to the Democratic Party and was a strong supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was born at Cooperstown, a 1916 graduate of Cooperstown high school, died August 22, 1973.
David Bartlett was a graduate of the law department at the University of Michigan in 1876. He practiced law in Boulder, Colorado in the 80's. In 1887 he located at Cooperstown. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1889. He was elected states attorney for Griggs County in 1892. He was elected Lieutenant Governor, in 1900-02-04. Frank Gladstone was associated with Mr. Bartlett in the law practice in the early 1900's.
Edward McDermott, a 1915 graduate of Cooperstown high school is looked upon as one of the nation's outstanding tax experts. Mr. McDermott, a native of Cooperstown, received a bachelor's degree from the University of North Dakota and his law degree from Harvard University. McDermott is head of a large Chicago law firm and is also a director of several important corporations.
Gerald P. Nye came to Cooperstown in 1919 to be editor of the Griggs County Sentinel-Courier, which was then owned by the Farmers Press Corporation, a group of Nonpartisan League farmers. In 1925 he was appointed to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Senator Edwin Ladd. He served in the senate eighteen years and was of the most outspoken isolationists.
His investigations into the munitions industry, oil deals and Senate campaign expenditures brought him national prominence.
The activities of the Nye committee, which continued until 1936 strengthened isolationist sentiment and set the domestic background for the neutrality legislation of 1935, 1936 and 1937.
Nye was defeated for the Senatorship in 1944 by former governor John Moses.
As a resident of Cooperstown during the twenties,
Nye was particularly active in all community projects and a leader in civic development.
After his political career ended, he remained in Washington and established a business-engineering firm, microfilming files and records for business and governmental agencies.
He also served as a special assistant to the Federal Housing Authority on Housing for the elderly, from which he retired in 1963. %4r. Nye died in 1971 at the age of 78.
Maynard Crane launched the Crane Lumber Company in 1883. He established the business for the Lenham Elevator and Lumber Company. In 1885 he purchased their interest. He conducted the business alone for 10 years when the firm was made Crane Johnson. Mr. Crane served as state senator for three terms. He died in Florida in 1949 at the age of 92.
C. P. Dahl came to Griggs County in 1912 and became actively engaged in farming. He was an auctioneer and at one time operated a general store at Jessie and also an elevator at that Griggs County point. He was elected to the North Dakota senate in 1939 where he served two terms. He was then elected lieutenant governor serving two terms and he was again elected to the North Dakota Senate. He served as Senator from Griggs County until 1951 when he resigned to accept the office of lieutenant governor, which he held until 1956.
L. A. Sayer was born in 1891 and moved to Cooperstown in 1929. He formed the Northwest Credit Company, later to become the Farm Credit Company. He was founder and president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, Cooperstown. Mr. Sayer was mayor of Cooperstown from 1942 to 1952, and served as Senator from the 16th district in 1953, 1955 and 1957 sessions. He died in February 1975.
The late Patrick Henry Costello, who was pharmacist in Cooperstown and the town's mayor for four years, was a Cooperstown resident who received recognition in his profession. His picture hangs in the new pharmacy building on the North Dakota State University campus in Fargo. In 1942 he moved to Chicago. He was associated with the National Boards of Pharmacy, the trustees of the United States Pharmacoepia, the council on Pharmaceutical Education, the National Association of Retail Druggists, the Chicago Drug and Chemical Club, the council on Pharmaceutical education and the National Drug Trade Conference. He was given the title of Doctor of Pharmacy. He received honoris causia in Pharmacy from the state college of Pharmacy and Science of Philadelphia, and a pharmacy degree from the Rhode Island College of Pharmacy and Science, and a degree from St. Louis College of Pharmacy and Allied Arts.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 14