Julius Kahn and Florence Prag Kahn
Values Codes I – E – L
Julius Kahn (1861-1924) was born in Germany and came to the U.S. with his parents, settling in California in 1866.
After high school, Kahn left San Francisco and worked as an actor for ten years.
He returned to The City by the Bay in 1890, studied law, and won election to the California assembly in 1892.
Kahn was elected to Congress in 1898 and won twelve more terms before dying in office in December, 1924.
After his death, his wife, Florence Prag Kahn (1866-1948), successfully ran to fill his seat and won five more terms, serving from 1925 to 1937.
She was the first Jewish woman to serve in Congress.
Sutter Street Railroad, San Francisco, Vintage Postcard.
Source
- Mark Rutzik, Breaking New Ground: The Untold Story of Early America’s Jewish Electoral Pioneers – 1788 to 1920, 2025.
Mark Rutzick is the curator of this Julius Kahn exhibit.
