Frank Mellen Nye

Frank Mellen Nye (March 7, 1852 – November 29, 1935) was a Republican Representative from Minnesota who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1907 to 1913. His three terms in Congress coincided with a significant period in American political and economic development, during which he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his Minnesota constituents.

Nye was born in Shirley, Piscataquis County, Maine, on March 7, 1852. In 1855 he moved with his parents to Wisconsin, where the family settled on a farm near River Falls in Pierce County. He attended the common schools and the local academy in River Falls, receiving the foundational education that would support his later legal and political career. His early years in a rural farming community in Wisconsin helped shape his familiarity with the concerns of agricultural regions in the Upper Midwest.

Before entering the legal profession, Nye taught school for several years, a common avenue of employment for educated young men of his era and a role that reflected his early engagement with public service. He subsequently studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1878. Nye commenced the practice of law in Hudson, Wisconsin, where he quickly became active in local legal and political affairs. He served as district attorney of Polk County, Wisconsin, from 1879 to 1884, gaining experience in criminal prosecution and county administration. Building on this role, he was elected a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, serving in 1884 and 1885, which marked his first experience in a legislative body.

In 1886 Nye moved to Minnesota and settled in Minneapolis, where he continued the practice of law. He entered public service in Hennepin County as an assistant prosecuting attorney and later as prosecuting attorney from 1893 to 1897. These positions enhanced his reputation as a capable lawyer and public official in one of Minnesota’s most populous counties. His legal and prosecutorial work in Minneapolis provided a platform for his subsequent election to national office.

Nye was elected as a Republican to the Sixtieth, Sixty-first, and Sixty-second Congresses, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1907, to March 3, 1913. During his three terms in office, he contributed to the legislative process at a time when the nation was grappling with issues related to industrialization, regulation, and progressive reform. As a member of the House of Representatives, he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his Minnesota constituents, aligning with the Republican Party’s positions of the era. In 1912 he declined to be a candidate for renomination, thereby concluding his congressional career at the end of the Sixty-second Congress.

After leaving Congress, Nye resumed the practice of law in Minneapolis, returning to private legal work while remaining a respected figure in Minnesota’s public life. In 1920 he was elected judge of the district court of Hennepin County for a six-year term, reflecting continued public confidence in his judgment and integrity. He was reelected to the same court in 1926 and served as a district judge until his retirement in 1932, culminating a long career that spanned teaching, law, prosecution, legislative service, and the judiciary.

Frank Mellen Nye died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 29, 1935. He was interred in Greenwood Cemetery in River Falls, Wisconsin, the community near which he had grown up after his family’s move from Maine. His life and career linked three states—Maine, Wisconsin, and Minnesota—and reflected the trajectory of a nineteenth-century lawyer and public servant who rose from rural beginnings to serve in both state and national office and on the bench of a major urban court.