Colorado’s Governors: William H. Adams – Colorado Virtual Library

Our series on Colorado’s governors continues with William H. Adams, Colorado’s 25th governor. Governor Adams served three terms from 1927-1933. As part of the State Publications Library’s effort to digitize governors’ addresses, Governor Adams’ 1927 and 1931 inaugural addresses and his final address to the Colorado General Assembly are available in our digital collection.

Early life

Governor Billy Adams in 1915. Photo from the Pictorial Roster of the Twentieth General Assembly.

William Herbert Adams, or “Billy,” was born in 1861 in a lead-mining district in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin. He and his family came west in a covered wagon in 1871, hoping that the Colorado sunshine would help improve the health of Billy’s brother, George. Sadly, George died in 1873 and Billy’s parents went back to Wisconsin while he and his older brother Alva stayed in Colorado. Alva Adams later also served as a governor of Colorado.

Billy stopped his formal schooling after eighth grade, but continued studying throughout his life, reading anything he could about law, politics, history, and economics. He moved to Alamosa in 1878, working odd jobs on cattle ranches until he bought up enough land and cattle to create his own ranch.

Political career

Adams’ first elected position was the City Treasurer of Alamosa. Once his political career began, he never lost another election. He next served as the mayor of Alamosa, then the Conejos County Commissioner, and was elected to his first term in the Colorado House of Representatives in 1886. Two years later, he was elected to the State Senate, where he served for 38 years. During that time, he introduced and passed only one bill – to establish the Alamosa State Normal School, later renamed Adams State University in his honor.

Shortly before being elected governor, Adams led the charge to halt the Ku Klux Klan-backed agenda of the candidates who had taken over the legislature and governor’s office in the 1924 election. He formed a coalition of 14 Senate Democrats and 6 Republicans that was large enough to kill any bill that had been passed by the KKK-controlled House. House Republicans tried to retaliate against Adams by withholding funding for the Alamosa State Normal School, but the coalition was so effective that by the end of the legislative session, only about 10% of the over 1,000 bills introduced were passed. Frustrated by the ineffective government, Colorado’s public voted in a new slate of politicians, including Adams as governor.

Adams was generally well-liked during his three terms as governor, and he maintained his identity as a humble cattle rancher. He disliked the “silver-tongued oratory” of other politicians, which is evident in his short, straightforward addresses to the General Assembly. These speeches often focused on Adams’ belief in lowering taxes by operating the state government as efficiently as possible. A 1969 Colorado Magazine article describes the dire financial situation Adams faced when he took office and the “tightening of the Colorado purse strings” that followed. Adams encouraged state departments to independently cut costs, and by the end of his second term, the state had erased a $1.3 million deficit.