Education
Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, Cole attended common schools as a child and later took a partial course at Shurtleff College.
United States representative politician
Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, Cole attended common schools as a child and later took a partial course at Shurtleff College.
He engaged in mercantile pursuits in Saint Louis, was a director of the Bank of Commerce for forty-three years, most of which time he was also vice president of the bank, and was a director in a number of insurance and other corporations. Cole served as Mayor of Saint Louis, Missouri from 1869 to 1871, was president of the Merchants" Exchange in 1876 and was elected a Republican to the United States House of Representatives in 1876, serving from 1877 to 1879, being unsuccessful for re-election in 1878. Afterward, he resumed his former business activities in Saint Louis until his death there on March 4, 1904.
He was interred in Bellefontaine Cemetery in Saint Louis.