Harry Lane was born in 1855 in Corvallis, Oregon; his grandfather was Oregon territorial governor and U.S. senator Joseph Lane. He graduated from Willamette University Medical School in Salem, Oregon. After studying further in New York and in Europe, Lane established a medical practice in San Francisco, California, and then in Portland, Oregon. He was a member of the Oregon State Medical Society, director of the Oregon State Insane Asylum (later Oregon State Hospital) from 1887 to 1891, and served on the Oregon state board of health from 1903 to 1906. Lane married Lola Bailey in 1882; the couple had two daughters and adopted a third daughter.

In 1905, Lane was elected mayor of Portland, and was reelected in 1907. As mayor, he supported public health measures, regulation of railroads and public utilities, and effective city planning and services. He also called for the creation of the Portland Rose Festival. Lane supported women's suffrage, and appointed Esther Pohl Lovejoy as Portland's city health officer, and Lola G. Baldwin as the first policewoman in the United States. In 1912, Lane was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat. As a senator, Lane supported government control of utilities and the breakup of monopolies. In 1917, he was one of six senators who opposed the United States' entry into World War I. This, along with his earlier opposition to a bill to arm U.S. merchant vessels, spurred harsh criticism and led to calls that he either resign or be recalled from office. Lane's health worsened, and he died on May 23, 1917, while recuperating in San Francisco.

Sources: "Harry Lane (1855-1917)," by Kimberly Jensen, Oregon Encyclopedia, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/lane_harry_1855_1917_/#.Y2K9yXbMIuU; articles in the Oregonian and Oregon Journal, March-May 1917.