Representative Allan Cathcart Durborow

Allan Cathcart Durborow Jr. (November 10, 1857 – March 10, 1908) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois who served two terms in Congress from 1891 to 1895. He represented his Illinois constituency during a significant period in American political and economic history, participating in the legislative process at the federal level and contributing to the work of the Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses.

Durborow was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 10, 1857. In 1862, during the Civil War, he moved with his parents to Indiana, where the family settled in Williamsport. He was educated in the public schools there, receiving the foundational schooling that prepared him for higher education. His early years in Indiana exposed him to the social and political changes of the Reconstruction era, which would later inform his engagement in public life.

In the fall of 1872, Durborow entered Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana. He pursued his studies there before transferring to Indiana University in Bloomington, from which he graduated in 1877. Following his graduation, he resided for a time in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he began his professional life. His education at two prominent Indiana institutions provided him with a broad liberal education and connections that aided his subsequent move into publishing and politics.

In 1880, Durborow moved to Chicago, Illinois, a rapidly growing industrial and commercial center that offered expanding opportunities in business and public affairs. He became associated with the city’s developing communications and trade press sector, and in 1887 he assumed the position of business manager of the Western Electrician, a trade magazine. In this role he was involved in the business and administrative side of a specialized publication at a time when the electrical industry and related technologies were emerging as major forces in the American economy.

Durborow entered national politics as a member of the Democratic Party and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois as a Democrat to the Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses. His service extended from March 4, 1891, to March 3, 1895. During these two terms, he represented the interests of his Illinois constituents in the House of Representatives and participated in the democratic process at a time marked by debates over tariffs, monetary policy, and industrial regulation. Although specific committee assignments and legislative initiatives are not detailed in the surviving summaries, his tenure coincided with the administration of President Grover Cleveland and the economic and political tensions of the early 1890s. He chose not to be a candidate for renomination in 1894, thereby concluding his continuous congressional service at the end of the Fifty-third Congress.

After leaving Congress in March 1895, Durborow returned to private life and engaged in the insurance business, reflecting a common pattern among former legislators who moved into commercial and financial pursuits. Remaining active in public affairs, he later sought to return to Congress. In 1902 he was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election to the Fifty-eighth Congress, indicating that he retained political ambitions and continued to be identified with the Democratic Party and its platform in Illinois at the turn of the century.

Durborow spent his later years in Chicago, where he had built his career in publishing, politics, and business. He died in Chicago, Illinois, on March 10, 1908. His remains were interred in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, a burial place for many of the city’s prominent figures, marking his final association with the city that had been the center of his professional and political life.