CHICAGO’S MAYORS
As Rahm Emanuel winds down 2nd term in office, a look back at his 44 predecessors
Can you name all 45 of Chicago’s mayors? Here’s a cheat sheet, with excerpts of Tribune coverage of some of them.
Note that the mayoral term was one year through 1863, when it was changed to two years. In 1906, Chicago’s city charter was amended to make the mayoral and aldermanic terms four years. Fred A. Busse, who took office in 1907, served the first four-year term.
William Butler Ogden (D)
1837-38
Chicago’s first mayor, a real estate and railroad mogul from New York, arrived in the brand-new town called Chicago in 1835. Shortly after the city was incorporated in 1837, Ogden defeated John Harris Kinzie to become mayor. He served for 10 months and refused to run for re-election.
Buckner S. Morris (Whig)
1838-39
From the Dec. 16, 1879, Tribune: “Judge Buckner S. Morris, one of the very oldest settlers of Chicago, and its second Mayor, lies at the point of death at the house of his daughter. … There is no hope of his recovery … and by the time this edition of The Tribune is in the hands of the reader the probabilities are that the venerable old man will have passed the dread portal and be numbered with the dead.”
Benjamin W. Raymond (Whig) 1839-40; 1842-43
Alexander Loyd (D) 1840-41
Francis C. Sherman (D) 1841-42; 1862-65
Augustus Garrett (D) 1843-44; 1845-46
Alson S. Sherman (D)
1844-45
From the April 22, 1902, Los Angeles Times: “Alson S. Sherman, Chicago’s oldest living ex-Mayor, celebrated his ninety-first birthday at Waukegan today. … Of thirtytwo Mayors that Chicago has had, only seven are living. Sherman’s name appears among the dead in some almanacs. He is feeble, but is able to leave the house occasionally.” Sherman died in September 1903.
John P. Chapin (Whig) 1846-47
James Curtiss (D)
1847-48; 1850-51
From his obituary in the Nov. 4, 1859, Tribune: “In 1834 he came to this city, and shortly afterwards commenced the publication of the ‘Democratic Advocate,’ which he continued for some time, when he was appointed State’s Attorney. … He was subsequently elected Alderman for several terms, and in (1847) he was elected Mayor of this city. … In 1850, he was again elected Mayor, and in 1851 retired.”
James H. Woodworth (none)
1848-50
From his obituary in the March 30, 1869, Tribune: “Mr. Woodworth was a man whom it was a pleasure to know. He was one of the nearly extinct class — the ‘gentlemen of the old school’ — quiet in his manner, free from any roughness which would offend or softness which would call out contempt. He was moderate, faithful in service, charitable, tender-hearted and entirely nonpartisan, though a politician.”
Walter S. Gurnee (D)
1851-53
From his obituary in the April 19, 1903, Tribune: “Mr. Gurnee joined the army of Chicagoans who have left the city after accumulating fortunes. When he went to New York he took with him title to Chicago property valued at that time at $3,000,000. Since then these holdings have tremendously increased in value.”
Charles McNeill Gray (D) 1853-54
Isaac L. Milliken (D) 1854-55
Levi Boone (American)
1855-56
Thomas Dyer (D) 1856-57
John Wentworth (R)
1857-58; 1860-61 From a March 28, 1886, story in the Tribune headlined “Some Chicago Mayors”: “There are few more familiar figures to Chicagoans than the towering form of ‘Long John,’ who, in spite of his 70 and odd years, is a zealous pedestrian. People turn to look after him with admiration of his commanding altitude, mingled with a sort of reverence for one whose long and honorable life is so identified with the city’s history. … Our John Wentworth is a Chicagoan to be proud of. No taint of parvenu blood and mushroom aristocracy dishwater mingles in his veins with the grand, sturdy, New England stock.” John C. Haines (D) 1858-60
Julian S. Rumsey (R)
1861-62
From “Some Chicago Mayors”: “Mr. Rumsey was amongst the most active of Chicago’s citizens in stirring up patriotic enthusiasm. He delivered a splendid oration in behalf of loyalty and patriotism at a … meeting at the old Metropolitan Hall April 16, a few days after the bombardment of Fort Sumter.”
John B. Rice (R) 1865-69
Roswell B. Mason (Citizens)
1869-71
From “Some Chicago Mayors”: “Mason was Mayor of Chicago at the time of the great fire of 1871, and his able administration of the city’s affairs at that trying period won for him universal commendation.”
Joseph Medill (R)
1871-73
Medill’s March 17, 1889, obituary in the Tribune, which he owned and ran as editor-in-chief, did not mention his role as mayor of Chicago until the 57th paragraph.
Harvey Doolittle Colvin (R) 1873-75
Monroe Heath (R) 1876-79
Carter Harrison Sr. (D) 1879-87; 1893-1893 (died in office)
John A. Roche (R) 1887-89 DeWitt C. Cregier (D) 1889-91
Hempstead Washburne (R) 1891-93
John P. Hopkins (D) 1893-95
George Bell Swift (R) 1895-97
Carter Harrison Jr. (D)
1897-1905; 1911-15
Edward F. Dunne (D)
1905-07
From a story about his first day in office, in the April 12, 1905, Tribune: “Within the private chamber a weary-looking, oldish man sat before a desk alternately with apparent nervousness removing his eye glasses from his nose and a charred cigar stub from his lips as he listened to the impressively whispered pleas addressed him.”
Fred A. Busse (R) 1907-11
William H. Thompson (R)
1915-23; 1927-31
From an April 1, 1944, Tribune editorial that ran a few weeks after the former mayor’s death: “Thompson as mayor surrounded himself with grafters and boodlers. … We were never able to prove conclusively that Thompson personally profited from the gross dishonesty of his administration of the city’s government, but we were morally sure that he did.”