Harry Baals

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American politician (1886–1954)

title: "Harry Baals" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mayors-of-fort-wayne,-indiana", "indiana-republicans", "1886-births", "1954-deaths", "20th-century-indiana-politicians", "politicians-from-fort-wayne,-indiana"] description: "American politician (1886–1954)" topic_path: "geography/india" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Baals" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (1886–1954) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Harry Baals
image	Harry William Baals.jpg
order	Mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana
term_start	1935
term_end	1948
predecessor	William J. Hosey
successor	Henry Branning
term_start2	1952
term_end2	May 9, 1954
predecessor2	Henry Branning
successor2	Robert Meyers
birth_name	Harry William Baals
birth_date
birth_place	Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.
party	Republican
spouse	Minnie Marie Baals (m. 1909–1936)
Irene Baals (m:?–1954)
children	Marceil D. Baals Smith, Donald Baals
::

Harry William Baals ( ; November 16, 1886 – May 9, 1954) was an American politician who was the Republican mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, from 1934 to 1947, and from 1951 until his death in 1954.

Career

When Baals first took office, he consolidated city departments and lowered city tax rates. He launched construction of Fort Wayne's massive underground sewage system and had the city sewage treatment plant built, which is still being used today.

During the Great Depression, Baals directed war materials drives, upgraded city equipment and services, and broke ground for Baer Field, now Fort Wayne International Airport. In the 1930s, one of his major accomplishments was getting the old Nickel Plate Railroad tracks, running through downtown, to be elevated. This opened up the north side of the city for development.

Fort Wayne newscaster Bob Chase, of WOWO-AM, once mispronounced the mayor's name . Baals personally called Chase to correct his pronunciation, saying, "son, this is your Mayor. I pronounce my name ."

Legacy

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Harry_Baals_street_sight.JPG" caption="The new Harry Baals Dr. street sign"] ::

Harry Baals Drive was named in his honor. It extends east from Parnell Avenue, north and west of the St. Joseph River in Johnny Appleseed Park. In recent years, the double entendre arising from Baals's name has led Fort Wayne officials to shy away from naming streets and buildings after him. The aforementioned street has been renamed "H. W. Baals Drive" due to persistent theft of the street sign.

Proposed Harry Baals Government Center

In early 2011, Fort Wayne city officials invited people to suggest names for a new government building. The winner with 23,826 votes was the "Harry Baals Government Center," more than ten times the votes received by the closest contender. However, city officials almost immediately backed away from the name (many Americans pronounce Harry identically to hairy due to the Mary–marry–merry merger). The city's deputy mayor Beth Malloy said, "We realize that while Harry Baals was a respected mayor, not everyone outside of Fort Wayne will know that. We wanted to pick something that would reflect our pride in our community beyond the boundaries of Fort Wayne." It was later announced that the building would be named "Citizens Square."

Personal life

He had two children: Marceil D. Baals Smith and Donald Baals.

Baals's descendants have taken to pronouncing their name .

Harry W. Baals died in 1954 of a kidney infection, while serving his fourth term as mayor. He is buried at Lindenwood Cemetery in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

References

Citations Bibliography

"Baals, Harry William" (biographical sketch, p. 747), Who's Who and What's What in Indiana Politics, published by James E. Perry, Indianapolis, 1944.

References

"Builders of Greater Fort Wayne". Allen County Genealogy Center.
(December 28, 1936). "Illness Fatal to Mrs Baals Sunday Night". [[The Journal Gazette.
(May 10, 1954). "Harry W. Baals, 67, Fort Wayne Mayor". [[The New York Times]].
[http://www2.wjbf.com/news/2011/feb/11/fort-wayne-indiana-courthouse-will-not-be-named-af-ar-1452600/ Fort Wayne, Indiana Courthouse Will Not Be Named After Harry Baals] {{Webarchive. link. (July 28, 2011 WJBF–TV, February 11, 2011)
[http://www.cityoffortwayne.org/fort-wayne-history.html Fort Wayne History]
(2011). "Harry Baals gives community worldwide attention". WALB News.
"Harry Baals dropped despite massive poll swell".
(2022-04-11). "The Lost Legacy of Harry Baals, the Fort Wayne Mayor That Indiana Wants You to Forget".
"Feedback Fort Wayne".
Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN. 0-521-22919-7, pp 480-482
[http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ODD_POPULAR_MAYOR_UNPOPULAR_NAME?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Popular mayor, Unpopular name] Associated Press
"Last name dooms popular Indiana mayor".
Leininger, Kevin. (February 12, 2011). "Jokes aside, Harry Baals worth honoring". The News-Sentinel.

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