USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume I > Part 26
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Martin, one year; 1885, Hugh O'Brien, three years; 1889, Thomas N. Hart, two years ; 1891, Nathan Matthews, Jr., four years ; 1895, Edwin U. Curtis, one year ; 1896, Josiah Quincy, four years ; 1900, Thomas N. Hart, two years; 1902, Patrick A. Collins, three and three-quarter years ; 1906, John F. Fitzgerald, two years ; 1908, George A. Hibbard, two years ; 1910, John F. Fitzgerald, four years; 1914, James M. Curley, four years ; 1918, Andrew J. Peters, four years ; 1922, James M. Curley, four years ; 1926, Malcolm E. Nichols. The mayors were elected annually until the Statute of 1895 made the term two years, which began with the election of Josiah Quincy in 1896. The four-year term began with the election of John F. Fitzgerald in 1910, the statute changing the term from two to four years having been passed in 1909.
Ex-Mayors and Their Careers-Edwin M. Bacon in outlining the earlier and later careers of the mayors of Boston has drawn attention to the facts that Harrison Gray Otis, the third mayor, had been Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, President of the Senate, Representative in Congress and Senator from the Commonwealth be- fore accepting the office of mayor. Samuel T. Armstrong was Lieuten- ant-Governor before serving as mayor. Mayors Rice, Pierce, Collins, Fitzgerald and Curley have represented Boston in Congress. Two mayors later became Governors of the State : Alexander Rice and William O. Gaston. Four mayors were physicians : Jerome V. C. Smith, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Frederick O. Prince and Samuel G. Green. Several of the mayors were elected to terms in the city government after having been out of office, such as Frederick W. Lincoln, in 1863; Henry L. Pierce, in 1878; Frederick O. Prince, in 1879, and John F. Fitzgerald. When the elec- tions were annual most of the mayors served from one to four years. Frederick W. Lincoln was mayor from 1858 to 1867 except for the two- year term of Joseph M. Wightman (1861-1862) or seven years in all, thereby exceeding the record of the famous second mayor, Josiah Quincy, who was reelected annually for a period of six consecutive years. The third of the Joshua Quincys serving as mayors, the three-time re- currence of this name amongst the mayors probably being unique in municipal histories, was the first to act for two terms under the bi-annual system. Patrick A. Collins (1902) was mayor for nearly two terms of four years, dying while in office (September 14, 1905). John F. Fitz- gerald completed six years as mayor in 1914, having served one term of two years from 1906, and a second from 1910, of four years.
The Mayors of Boston-Since the mayor has been so dominant a factor in the government of the city, and since so much of the municipal history is bound up in the records of their administrations, it is fitting
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that this chapter should contain an epitome of who the mayors have been and what they have done. For more complete stories of these individ- uals, the reader is referred to the city publication, "Boston, 1822 to 1922," and to a brochure issued by the State Trust Company entitled, "The Mayors of Boston." To these, and other publications the writer owes the material condensed in what follows.
John Phillips (November 26, 1770-May 29, 1823, ) was the first mayor serving during the year 1822. He had been in the General Court for twenty-five years, during ten of which he was president of the Senate. One of the committee of twelve which reported favorably on a city charter, as a compromise candidate for the office of mayor, his election was almost unanimous. His delicate health led him to refuse to stand for a second term. He did much to make the transition to a city govern- ment easy, being a conservative, desiring to make as few changes from the town forms as was possible under the new charter. His activities were chiefly confined to the organization of the new administrative machinery created by the charter. Mayor Quincy wrote concerning him : "His administration laid the foundation of the prosperity of our city deep and on right principles." "His aim," said Mayor Otis, "was to allure, not to repel, to reconcile by gentle reforms, not to revolt by startling innovations." Wendell Phillips, the great abolitionist orator, was one of John Phillips' eight children.
Josiah Quincy (February 4, 1772-July 1, 1864) served during 1823-28. No man of his day took a greater interest in the development of Boston than Josiah Quincy, the "Great Mayor." A truly great personality, far sighted, possessed of constructive imagination, energetic and courageous, as he had shown in the State Legislature, in the National Congress and as president of Harvard, he established a record as mayor of Boston which has probably not been surpassed by his many successors. In his inaugural address he said: "The destinies of the City of Boston are of a nature too plain to be denied or misconceived. . . . The indications are apparent from the location of our city, from its harbor, and from its rel- ative position among rival towns and cities, above all, from the character of its inhabitants and the singular degree of enterprise and intelligence which are diffused through every class of its citizens." Ably, sometimes ruthlessly, he lived up to his optimistic view of his native place. To secure the widest. power, and to give the most intelligent service, he placed himself at the head of all the committees of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. "Among the achievements under Quincy's administra- tion was the great extension of Faneuil Hall for market purposes, the reorganization of the departments of Health, Fire and Charitable and
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Correctional Institutions. . . , He was exceedingly concerned on be- half of the public schools. Already prior to the organization of Boston as a city he had given much attention to the care of the poor, and, on becoming mayor, put into effect several important measures for their welfare as well as for prisoners." Sanitary conditions were improved; a street cleaning system being established. He left the city with a debt of $637,000, all spent for the securing to Boston of the New Faneuil Mar- ket, the City Wharf, the land north of the new block of stores on North Market Street, and lands west of Charles and Pleasant streets, a part of which is now included in the Public Gardens. The "Quincy Market" improvement involved the reclamation of 125,000 square feet of land and flats, the construction of six new streets at a total cost for land and mar- ket house of $1,100,000. "The increased real estate values, as well as the additional property secured by the city, more than paid for the whole improvement." After five reëlections he withdrew from politics, becom- ing in 1829 the president of Harvard. A prolific writer, his histories of Boston and Harvard, his numerous monographs and biographies form a storehouse of information much visited by students of local history.
Harrison Gray Otis (October 8, 1765-October 28, 1848) served dur- ing 1829-31. Mr. Otis, the third member of the triumvirate which ruled the early city, was a brilliant lawyer and orator, a leader in the Federalist party, member of Congress and both branches of the Massachusetts Legislature, the speaker of one and the president of the other, was judge of the newly established Boston Court of Common Pleas, appointed in 1814, and a member of the United States Senate from 1817 to 1823, re- signing to accept the nomination for the governorship. His administra- tion as Mayor was marked by retrenchment rather than by any remark- able expansion of the municipal activities, the depressed financial condi- tions of that period together with declines in the valuations of assessed property making his course advisable. The old State House was reno- vated at his suggestion and was used as the city hall. It was also upon the initiative of Mayor Otis that the General Court passed an act which vested in the city of Boston all the property of Suffolk County in the city ; thereafter Boston was to provide and maintain all the county buildings and to pay the county charges.
Charles Wells (December 30, 1786-June 3, 1866) served during 1832- 1833. Mayor Wells, a master builder, "was elected as a protest of the middle classes against what they thought was the high-handed and ex- travagant way in which Quincy and Otis had managed the city's affairs." His administration was somewhat featureless. Prosperity had returned to Boston, and with it the municipal expenditures rose. A new Court
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House was built, some of the principal streets extended, and sane quar- antine regulations were enforced by which Boston was protected from the cholera, then prevalent in the British provinces.
Theodore Lyman, Jr. (February 19, 1792-July 17, 1849) served dur- ing 1834-35. He is described as a man "of good understanding, enlarged by a liberal education and extensive travel" with literary tastes and abil- ity, interested in military science, and somewhat less so in politics. He was the author of several books, a general of the Boston Militia, and a member of the Legislature. One of his early acts as Mayor was to call attention to the need of a better water supply-at that time only a part of the city received any water, this being drawn through four main log pipes from Jamaica Pond. Colonel Loammi Baldwin, as special investi- gator, reported that Farm Pond in Framingham, and Long Pond in Natick were the most available sources. It was not until many years later that anything was done to improve the water supplies of the city in spite of Mayor Lyman's urgency.
"He established the State Reform School at Westboro, and gave it $22,500 during his lifetime and $50,000 more in his will." This was the first institution of its kind, and now bears his nam. To him is due a school of similar character at Lancaster. He also interested himself in, and was for years the manager of the Farm School for Boys at Thomp- son's Island. During his administration the Ursuline Convent in Charles- town (now Somerville) was destroyed by a mob in 1834. When in the next year, William Lloyd Garrison was attacked at the office of his paper, "The Liberator," by anti-abolitionists, Mayor Lyman saved him by plac- ing the famous man in his carriage, carrying him to the safety of a jail cell for the night.
Samuel Turrel Armstrong (April 29, 1784-March 26, 1850) served during 1836. He is best known as a publisher, particularly of religious literature, his house on Cornhill Street becoming the mart for the relig- ious works of the orthodox churches. He was captain of the "Warren Phalanx" in Charlestown during the War of 1812, twice a representative of Boston in the Legislature, once Senator from Suffolk, lieutenant-Gov- ernor of the Commonwealth for two terms, and in 1835 acting Governor. While serving as mayor, the new Courthouse was completed. His ad- ministration is summed up by one author as consisting of the "erection of an iron fence for the enclosure of three sides of the Common, and the extension of the mall through the burial grounds of Boylston Street."
Samuel Atkins Eliot (March 5, 1798-January 29, 1862) served during 1837-39. Mayor Eliot, a Boston merchant of high character and ability, came from a long line of distinguished ancestors, and was the father of
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the late Charles W. Eliot, former president of Harvard University. He came into office while Boston was being visited by a financial depression, which greatly hampered any forward movement by the city. He suc- ceeded in reorganizing the fire department, which was an unpaid volun- teer force and without discipline, "More prone to rioting than putting out fires." A compensation law was put into effect in 1837, since which time the fire department has been a paid force. His efforts to reorganize the police department met with failure, although Mayor Eliot did create the first organized day police. "During his term of office, a hospital for the insane was erected and opened in South Boston." A building for the offices of registry and probate was begun, streets were widened and ex- tended; but his recommendations that a new city hall and county jail should be built went unheeded.
Jonathan Chapman (January 23, 1807-May 25, 1848) served during 1840-42. Lawyer, orator, litterateur, he went in for politics and was elected mayor. His platform was retrenchment, and he succeeded in making a reduction of the city debt, but could not reduce the tax rate. Not favoring the building of a new city hall, the old Court House was made over and used by the city (1841). He also employed extra police to prosecute violations of the liquor license laws, although he opposed the laws then in force. An epochal event during his administration was the establishment of steamship connections with Liverpool, England, in 1840 by the Cunard line ; and the opening of the Western Railroad to the Hud- son River the following year.
Martin Brimmer (June 8, 1793-April 25, 1847) served during 1843- 1844. A business man, interested in education, associated with military companies for many years (captain of the Ancient and Honorable Mili- tary Company in 1826) he was elected mayor on the Whig ticket. His principal policy was the further reduction of the city debt, in which he succeeded. He backed Horace Mann in his educational ideas, suggested the erection of a new prison for the county of Suffolk to replace the old Leverett Street jail; applied to the General Court for the authority to secure a water supply from ponds in Framingham and Natick.
Thomas Aspinwall Davis (December II, 1798-November 22, 1845) served during 1845. As a candidate of a new party known as the "Native American Party" (this party was very powerful all over the country, but was short lived) Davis was elected mayor. Failing health brought his resignation after seven months' service. It was not accepted, he being continued as the nominal mayor until his death. Nothing notable was accomplished during his term in office. He made an effort to get a water supply from Long Pond but failed in this endeavor.
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Josiah Quincy, Jr. (January 17, 1802-November 2, 1882) served dur- ing 1846-48; was a worthy second mayor of the name, having many of the characteristics of his father. Josiah Quincy, Sr., had advocated tak- ing a supply of water for Boston from the Charles River; the son began his term by urging with successful vigor the immediate breaking of ground for what is now the Cochituate water works. Three years later, there was celebrated by the city the introduction in it of the waters of Long Pond (Lake Cochituate). The system of water works cost Boston $5,000,000, but it gave a water supply to every street in the municipality. Of Quincy it was said, jokingly, "He has written his name in water, yet it will last forever. The people of Boston have never found him dry, and he has taken care that they never shall be." During his terms as mayor, Josiah Quincy, Jr., effected a reorganization of the police, secured the authorization for filling the marsh lands of South Bay, had the double-headed system of school supervision abolished, and signed the contracts for the building of the Suffolk County Jail.
Quincy was a lawyer and financier; member and president of the city council, and president of the Senate before becoming mayor. His business ability had been shown in his handling of the Western and Central Vermont railroads. He was always prominent in civic affairs, the treasurer of the Boston Athenaeum for fifteen years, and by his per- sonal endorsement of the notes of this organization, made possible the erection of the building on Beacon Street.
John Prescott Bigelow (August 25, 1797-July 4, 1872) served during 1849-51. His birthplace was in Groton, the first of the mayors of Boston born outside of the present limits of the city. A graduate of Harvard, he was admitted to the bar in 1818; early became interested in politics ; served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1828 to 1833 except for one year. He was Secretary of State from 1836 to 1843; elected Mayor in 1848. Many of the projects begun in Quincy's term of office were completed in Bigelow's, such as the county jail and the water system. There was a new almshouse built on Deer Island, a novel sys- tem of telegraphic fire alarms, invented by Doctor W. F. Channing, was installed, and a great celebration of the completion of the railroad con- necting Boston with Canada and the Great Lakes.
Benjamin Seaver (April 12, 1795-February 14, 1856) served during 1852-53. The Boston census of 1850 gave Boston's population as 136,881 ; the valuation of all property amounted to $180,000,500; the tax levy was $1,237,000 ; and the funded debt had risen to more than $6,000,000. Sea- ver's, like Bigelow's, administration was marked by an attempt to reduce taxes and the city debt. Neither was successful, although during the
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early part of Mayor Seaver's term the tax rate stood at $6.40 but was later raised to $7.60. The city debt was reduced $234,000 through the sale of municipal property. Mayor Seaver is remembered principally through his efforts to secure a building for the public library.
Jerome Van Crowninshield Smith (July 2, 1800-August 20, 1879), served during 1854-55. He was a physician, the son of a doctor, and a litterateur of considerable ability. In 1826, he became port physician, was elected to the State Legislature in 1837 and to the mayor's chair in 1854. The only feature of his reign was the uniting of the "watch" with the police as one organization. He made many suggestions for the ben- efit of Boston, but unfortunately few were carried out. "He recom- mended the sale of Quincy Market to private individuals; the erection of an insane asylum on Deer Island; the erection of a tall tower on Bea- con Hill for the use of the Fire Telegraph and the Fire Department offices ; a forced sale of the city land in order to promote the erection of buildings; advocated the appointment of a physician in each ward to serve the poor and to be paid by the city."
Alexander Hamilton Rice (August 30, 1818-July 22, 1895) served during 1856-57. He followed in the footsteps of his father to become a prominent paper manufacturer and dealer. Among the several offices held by him during his career were: Member of the Boston School Com- mittee, Board of Public Institutions, Common Council, president of the Board of Trade, and first Republican mayor of Boston. "During his term as mayor, the Back Bay was developed, the City Hospital started, and the Boston Public Library dedicated on Boylston Street." He an- nounced at his inaugural that his main endeavor would be to improve the institutions and other affairs of the city without going into costly experi- ments, an announcement which he carried out in many respects except in the reduction of expenditures. After serving as mayor he was sent to Congress in 1859, remaining there for several terms, declining renomina- tion in 1867. From 1876 to 1878, Rice was Governor of Massachusetts.
Frederick Walker Lincoln, Jr. (February 27, 1817-September 13, 1898) served during 1858-60 and 1863-66. A successful business man, Frederick W. Lincoln managed municipal affairs so well during his first term that after the Civil War, when the post-war conditions in the city called for a strong and conservative leader, he was again elected. He was the first mayor to see the need of gaining Federal aid in the preservation of Boston Harbor ; his efforts along these lines were effective, in 1859, in securing the cooperation of the National government in the improve- ment of ship navigation. Considerable of the land on the Back Bay was annexed from Roxbury during this same year, a part being added to the
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Public Gardens. Among the accomplishments of his double administra- tion were : Relief methods enforced in the care of the poor after the war ; removal of Fort Hill, the material being used in the Back Bay fill; the new Courthouse occupied; steps taken for the building of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, the cost of which was over $2,000,000. The mayor's administration was well managed but expensive. The tax rate rose in 1865 to $15.80. Yet, in spite of the liberal manner in which the city met the war requirements, the municipal debt, in 1866, was only $625,000 larger than in 1861, a remarkable achievement. After his retirement, Mr. Lincoln continued to serve the city on such boards as Overseers of the Poor, and Harbor Commissioners, and was one of the Relief Com- mittee after the great Boston fire.
Joseph Milner Wightman (October 19, 1812-January 25, 1850) served during 1861-62. Mayor Wightman was installed in office at a critical period in the affairs of the city and nation. Business was depressed as a natural consequence of the outbreak of the Civil War, and retrench- ment in city undertakings had to go hand in hand with large expendi- tures for war purposes. The mayor managed to secure a supply of money for war objects, particularly to fit out soldiers and provide for their pay and subsistence, and still practice economy in municipal ex- penditures. In addition to the ordinary expenses of the municipality, the building of a new city hall was begun.
Otis Norcross (November 2, 1811-September 5, 1882) served during 1867. One writer says of Otis Norcross that he "was one of the few mayors who could truthfully say that during his connection with city affairs he never used a dollar of the city money for his own use, never sold the city a dollar's worth of merchandise, never made a contract with the city directly or indirectly, and never put a friend or a relative into office of any kind." Politically, he stood for no increase in the city's indebtedness and against any and all vague uncertain enterprises. His virtues prevented his longer term in office and also the putting through of most of the reforms he advocated. Roxbury was annexed with its 30,000 inhabitants during his administration. The extravagance which marked all business and municipal affairs after the Civil War, was also felt by Boston, so that in spite of all retrenchments, the city's annual expenditures rose to $8,000,000 in 1867.
Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff (June 29, 1810-October 17, 1874) served during 1868-70. "Shurtleff is more known for his antiquarian labors than for his work as mayor, although during his mayoralty many new streets and much territory was added to Boston." He was the author of "A Topographical and Historical Description of Boston," and
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he edited the Massachusetts Colony and the New Plymouth Colony records. In addition to street extension, Mayor Shurtleff's administra- tion was marked by little else than a failing endeavor to keep down the municipal expenditures. In 1869, these expenditures totaled $12,000,000 ; the tax rate was $13.70; and there was an increase in the city debt of more than $2,000,000.
William Gaston (October 3, 1820-January 19, 1894) served during 1871-72 as the twentieth mayor. He was a man of high character, dis- tinguished ancestry, a lawyer and leader of men. He had been at the front during the Civil War, a State Senator in 1868, Mayor of Boston in 1871 and in 1875 was elected Governor, the first to be chosen of the Democratic party since the formation of the Republican party. His ad- ministration as mayor was marked by the establishment of the Board of Health; the extension of the water system when the supply from Lake Cochituate proved insufficient ; the establishment of the new Department for the Survey and Inspection of Buildings; and the Great Fire of 1872.
Henry Lillie Pierce (August 23, 1825-December 17, 1896) served during ten months of 1873 and again in 1878. "To Henry L. Pierce belongs the distinction of building up a small chocolate mill into the largest of its kind in America and having made the name of Walter Baker known all over the world." His short service as mayor was brought about by his resignation to become a member of Congress. Upon him devolved the direction of the city's affairs immediately after the Great Fire, when it was necessary to straighten and widen the streets of the burned district before rebuilding, and to do this with the least expense possible. The Fire Department underwent a reorganization, with the mayor holding the appointment of the three heads of the department. Charlestown, West Roxbury, and Brighton were annexed to Boston at this time (effective January, 1874), Charlestown having a population of 30,000, Brighton of 5,000 and West Roxbury of 9,000. The expenditures during the ten months' term amounted to more than $18,000,000, mostly due to the street improvements which had to be made then or never.
In 1878, in response to a petition, Mr. Pierce again ran for mayor and was elected. His principal act during this second term was the reorgani- zation of the police department, which then consisted of 715 men who were appointed by the mayor, with the approval of the aldermen. There- after the police were under a commission.
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