Frank Probasco Bohn

Frank Probasco Bohn (July 14, 1866 – June 1, 1944) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan who served three terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1927 to 1933. A member of the Republican Party during his congressional career, he represented Michigan’s 11th congressional district in a period marked by the late 1920s economic expansion and the onset of the Great Depression, participating in the legislative process and representing the interests of his Upper Peninsula constituents.

Bohn was born in Charlottesville, Indiana, on July 14, 1866. He attended the local public schools and completed his secondary education at a public high school in Indiana. Pursuing further studies, he enrolled at Danville Normal College in Danville, Indiana, an institution focused on teacher training, before turning to the study of medicine. He graduated from the Medical College of Indiana in Indianapolis in 1890, receiving professional training that would shape his early career and inform his later public service.

After completing his medical education, Bohn moved to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where he established himself in Newberry, Luce County. In addition to his medical background, he became involved in local business and finance, working as a banker. His engagement in community affairs led him into local politics and educational governance. He served as village president of Newberry from 1904 to 1919, overseeing municipal affairs during a period of growth and development in the region. Concurrently, he was a member of the Newberry School Board from 1908 to 1914, contributing to the administration and improvement of local public education.

Bohn’s early political efforts included participation in both major parties. In 1896 he ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for the Michigan House of Representatives from the Delta District in the Upper Peninsula. By the 1910s he had aligned with the Republican Party and sought higher office within that organization. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the Republican primary election for Lieutenant Governor of Michigan in 1916. Undeterred, he continued his political career and was elected to the Michigan Senate from the 30th District, serving from 1923 to 1926. In the state senate he gained legislative experience and visibility that would support his later bid for national office.

In 1926 Bohn challenged incumbent Republican Frank D. Scott in the primary election for the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan’s 11th congressional district. He defeated Scott in the primary and went on to win the general election, entering the national legislature as a Republican. Bohn served in the 70th, 71st, and 72nd Congresses, from March 4, 1927, to March 3, 1933. During his three terms in the United States House of Representatives, he contributed to the legislative process at a time of significant national change, including the end of the Roaring Twenties and the beginning of the Great Depression. As a member of Congress, he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his Michigan constituents in federal policymaking. In 1932 he was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election to the 73rd Congress, losing in the general election to Democrat Prentiss M. Brown.

Following his departure from Congress, Bohn remained active in public service at the state level. He served as a member of the Michigan State Hospital Commission from 1935 through 1937, helping to oversee aspects of the state’s public health and institutional care system. This role drew upon both his medical training and his long experience in government and administration.

Frank Probasco Bohn died in Newberry, Michigan, on June 1, 1944, at the age of seventy-seven. He was interred in Forest Home Cemetery in Newberry. His career reflected a progression from medical education and local leadership to state legislative service and three terms in the United States House of Representatives, marking him as a significant political figure in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula during the early twentieth century.