During its first 24 years as an incorporated city, Albert Lea had 14 men who served as mayors. In fact, 10 of these men only served a year each in this office. The tenth and last mayor with a one-year term was Henry A. Morgan. And there’s an indication he helped to create the city charter provision which extended the mayor’s term of office to the present two years.

Henry Augustus Morgan was born in Clarinda, Iowa, on March 14, 1863, son of Harley Morgan and Ruth Dupray Morgan, both of Vermont, and descended from original Welch and French Huguenot (Protestant) stock. He received his early education in the graded schools of Hesper, Iowa, and in the Albert Lea High School, from which he graduated in 1882.

Henry actually came to Albert Lea in 1880 t become a part time clerk and stenographer in the law offices of Lovely and Morgan (John A. Lovely and his older brother, D. F. Morgan), and studied law in that office. He was admitted to the bar in May 1885, and in July became a member of the firm which soon changed its name to Lovely, Morgan and Morgan. Since that time he was continuously engaged in active practice as a lawyer in Albert Lea.

His older brother, D. F. Morgan, became a lawyer in 1878 and soon came to Albert Lea to become Lovely’s partner. He was elected to serve Freeborn County in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1889-1891. Also, in 1891, he left the firm of Lovely, Morgan and Morgan and moved to Mankato, then on to Minneapolis. Henry’s older brother represented a Hennepin County district in the Minnesota State Senate from 1895 to 1897, and died in April 1903.

During 1889-1890 Henry was the city attorney for Albert Lea, and from 1891 to 1899 serves as the Freeborn County Attorney.

In 1901 he became a law partner of John F. D. Meighen, then in the 1920s formed a partnership with Floyd Nichols.

The 1911 &uot;History of Freeborn County&uot; book had these comments about Henry Morgan:

&uot;An excellent memory, an alert mind and an aggressive and essentially

masculine make-up rendered him unusually successful as a prosecutor. …

His practice has been general, ranging from the inferior courts to the United States Supreme Court, but its heavy and exacting requirements have never marred his companionable disposition, deadened the ringing tones of his powerful voice or injured his ability to tell an apt story. He is an active member of the State Bar Association, and also a member of the National Bar Association.&uot;

In 1902 Morgan was elected to serve a one-year term as the mayor of Albert Lea, then became a state senator from 1903 to 1907.

A biographical sketch about Morgan’s life in the 1911 history book reported &uot;…

since first entering the (legal) profession, he has taken active part in formulating measures that have been incorporated into the settled law of the state. Matters of game legislation, drainage legislation and court procedure have received his special attention. In 1889, when city attorney, he drafted a city charter for the City of Albert Lea, known by lawyers as Chapter 10 of the Special Laws of Minnesota, 1889. This directed his attention to the question of municipal charters and local self government. As soon as theconstitutional amendment permitting home rule charters in Minnesota was adopted, in 1898, ‘Mr. Morgan commenced urging the appointment of a charter commission to draft a home rule charter for the city of Albert Lea. This was done and he became an active and efficient member of the commission which drafted the charter adopted in 1902 by the voters and still in force. The provisions therein with reference to local improvements and franchises were nearly all prepared by him. At the time of its adoption he was mayor of the City of Albert Lea and his official certificate as such appears attached to the original duplicate copies of the charter filed as required by the state constitution in the office of the secretary of state and in the office of the city clerk. Ever since that time he has taken an active interest in the amendments that have been made and is now president of the charter commission.&uot;

As already mentioned, Morgan devoted his life to the practice of law. He was a director of the Albert Lea State Bank since its organization. Fraternally he was a charter member of the local Knights of Pythias Lodge, and also belonged to the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery of the Masonic body, as well as to the Royal Arcanum. For many years he was described as a leading spirit in all organizations for the betterment of civic and business conditions, being a member of the Business Men’s League (a predecessor of the present Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of commerce).

At the time of his death on Aug. 14, 1931, in Rudd, Iowa, Morgan was the president of the Albert Lea Cemetery Association (now Graceland Cemetery). And that’s where he’s now buried.