Orland Steen Loomis

Who was Orland Steen Loomis?

Orland Steen "Spike" Loomis was an American lawyer and governor-elect of Wisconsin. He was born in Mauston, Wisconsin and was a member of the Progressive Party.

Loomis received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1917. He was stationed in France during World War I, after which he returned to Mauston to practice law, serving as the city attorney from 1922 to 1931. He was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1928 and the Wisconsin State Senate in 1930. From 1935 to 1937 Loomis was director of the Rural Electrification Administration in Wisconsin. He was then elected Attorney General of Wisconsin, serving from 1937 to 1939.

After narrowly losing the 1940 election for Governor of Wisconsin as a Progressive, Loomis ran again in 1942, defeating the incumbent Governor Julius Heil. He died suddenly of a heart attack a month before he was to take office, and the Republican Lieutenant Governor Walter Samuel Goodland served all of Loomis's term as acting governor.

Orland Steen Loomis was buried in Mauston. Loomis Road in Milwaukee County is named after him.

Loomis married Florence Marie Ely on June 22, 1918. They had three children.