Conrad Shearer, Republican state legislator and secretary of Kenosha Industries, was born in Somers, Wisconsin, on 18 October 1874. Following high school he attended the Kenosha College of Commerce and eventually completed his education in 1905 when he graduated from the State Normal School in Milwaukee. Prior to 1906 he taught in the Kenosha County and the Milwaukee public school systems and at the Kenosha College of Commerce. From 1906-1913 he worked as a postal clerk and a letter carrier with the Kenosha Post Office.
Shearer began his political career in 1913 when he was elected to the Kenosha City Council. He served as an alderman until 1919 when he became a member of the City Park Commission. Then in 1923 he was elected to the state assembly, where he served for five years until his 1928 election to the state senate. He continued to win re-election to that body until his death in 1948. During his quarter century of service in the legislature he served as president pro tem of the senate for three consecutive terms (1941, 1943, 1945) and held many important committee assignments. Among these were positions on the assembly's Labor Committee and Fish and Game Committee and later the senate's Education and Public Welfare Committee and the Agriculture and Labor Committee. He was chairman of this last committee for three sessions in 1943, 1945, and 1947 and was chairman of the state Republican caucus in 1943. During his legislative career Shearer championed numerous bills calling for vocational education and aid for crippled children; he is also credited with bringing about the State Planning Board. While in the senate, he wrote a newspaper column on district and legislative news which appeared in Kenosha and Walworth County papers.
In addition to his political career, Shearer remained active in the business, civic, and fraternal life of the community. In 1907 he became secretary and manager of the central offices of Kenosha Industries, now the Kenosha Manufacturing Association. He served in this capacity for 39 years until his retirement on 1 July 1946. He was also an active member of the Kenosha Hospital Board, member and secretary of the Salvation Army Board, and member and trustee of the First Congregational Church. He actively participated in several fraternal organizations.
Shearer married Mary E. Berglin on 28 August 1911. They had one child, Conrad, Jr. Shearer died of a heart ailment at the age of 73 in the midst of his campaign for re-election to a sixth term to the state senate.
