List of longest-serving mayors in the United States
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Some of the longest-serving mayors in the United States are listed according to their length of service in that currently or has served in that part of the state or legislative office. The office of mayor is the highest ranking local official and responsibilities may vary from ceremonial (see weak mayor) to full-time responsibility for city operations (see strong mayor).
Current serving mayors
[edit]A list of mayors still in office and ordered by their length of continuous service in that office. (If there is a break in their service, then this length is measured from their return to the office.)
The longest-serving current mayor of one of the 50 largest cities in the United States is Carolyn Goodman, who has been mayor of Las Vegas since July 6, 2011.
Years | Name | Municipality | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
49 years, 131 days | Margaret M. Doud | Mackinac Island, Michigan | Entered office on April 14, 1975.[1] |
48 years, 231 days | Robert Heidenescher | Dupont, Ohio | Entered office on January 5, 1976.[2] |
48 years, 114 days | William D. Tate | Grapevine, Texas | Entered office on May 1, 1973. Served May 1, 1973 – May 1, 1985 and May 1, 1988–present[3] |
47–48 years | Lamar Scroggs | Oakwood, Georgia | Entered office in 1976.[4] |
47–48 years | Harold Rainwater | Wilmore, Kentucky | Entered office in 1976.[5] |
48 years, 235 days | Rutledge B. Leland, III | McClellanville, South Carolina | Entered office in 1976.[6] |
46 years, 290 days | Robert Chatfield | Prospect, Connecticut | Entered office on November 7, 1977. |
46–47 years | Phil Williams | McLemoresville, Tennessee | Entered office in 1977.[7] He is the longest serving mayor in Tennessee history. |
44–45 years | Marvin Johnson | Independence, Minnesota | Entered office in 1979. |
42–43 years | Mary Hawkins Butler | Madison, Mississippi | Entered office in 1981. |
43 years, 111 days | Jeffery D. Schielke | Batavia, Illinois | Entered office on May 4, 1981.[8] |
43 years, 114 days | Gerald R. Bennett | Palos Hills, Illinois | Entered Office in 1981 [9] |
43 years, 48 days | Mark Anthony McClure | Danville, West Virginia | Entered office on July 6, 1981. |
41 years, 296 days | James V. Bender Jr | Pollocksville, North Carolina | Entered office on November 1, 1982. |
41 years, 235 days | William "Bill" McIntosh | Moultrie, Georgia | Entered office in 1983. |
39 years, 109 days | Duane Dawson | Milan, Illinois | Entered office on May 6, 1985.[10] |
38–39 years | Louie Davis | Waldo, Florida | Entered office in 1985. |
38 years | Dennis M. Clough | Westlake, Ohio | Entered office in 1986.[11] |
37 years, 20 days | Carlos López Rivera | Dorado, Puerto Rico | Entered office on August 3, 1987. |
33 years, 291 days | Dr. Ravi Bhasker | Socorro, New Mexico | Entered office on November 6, 1990. |
34 years, 53 days | Richard Turner | Weehawken, New Jersey | Entered office July 1, 1990[12] |
33 years, 235 days | James M. Cahill | New Brunswick, New Jersey | Entered office on January 1, 1991.[13] |
31 years, 235 days | J. Christian Bollwage | Elizabeth, New Jersey | Entered office on January 1, 1993.[14] |
30 years, 233 days | Dean J. Mazzarella | Leominster, Massachusetts | Entered office on January 3, 1994. |
Former mayors
[edit]A list of mayors in order of their total length of service. (If there is a break in their service, then this length is measured as the sum of their terms.)
Years | Name | Municipality | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
63 years, 73 days | Hilmar Moore | Richmond, Texas | Served from September 22, 1949, until his death on December 4, 2012.[15] |
61 years, 111 days | John H. Land | Apopka, Florida | Served from January 1, 1950, to January 1, 1968, and from January 1, 1971, to April 22, 2014. |
60 years | Charles E. Long | Booneville, Kentucky | Served from 1958 until his death on August 3, 2019.[16] |
58 years, 233 days | Robert Linn | Beaver, Pennsylvania | Served from January 2, 1946, to August 22, 2004. |
60 years, 215 days | Bruce Arnold | Valparaiso, Florida | Served from January 21, 1964, until his death on February 23, 2017. |
56 years | Paul Jurko | Yankee Lake, Ohio | Served from November, 1931 until his death on March 1, 1988. |
54 years, 270 days | Robert L. Butler | Marion, Illinois | Served from May 6, 1963[17] until his resignation on January 31, 2018.[18] |
52 years | Gerald Calabrese | Cliffside Park, New Jersey | Served from 1961 to 1963 and 1965 to 2015.[19][20] |
52 years | Frank Caliper | Colp, Illinois | Served from 1935 until his death on March 28, 1987. |
52 years, 0 days | John M. Coyne | Brooklyn, Ohio | Served from 1948 to January 2000.[21][Notes 1] |
51 years, 102 days | Donald Stephens | Rosemont, Illinois | First Mayor of Rosemont. Served from village's incorporation in 1956 to 2007. |
51 years, 361 days | Robert M. Blais | Lake George, New York | Served from April 5, 1971, to April 1, 2023.[22][23] |
51 years, 182 days | Dock Hulett Gabbert | Derma, Mississippi | Served from July 1, 1969, to December 30, 2020.[24] |
50 years, 298 days | Leonard Scarcella | Stafford, Texas | Served from September 4, 1969, until his death on June 28, 2020.[25] |
50 years, 0 days | Leonard T. Connors | Surf City, New Jersey | Served from 1966 to January 5, 2016. |
48 years, 352 days | Frank E. Rodgers | Harrison, New Jersey | Served from September 4, 1946, to August 22, 1995. |
48 years, 19 days | Randall Wise | Niceville, Florida | Served from August, 1972 until his death on January 20, 2020. |
48 years | John Lewis Gay | Berea, Kentucky | Served from 1910 to 1958. |
47 years, 11 months | Frank Kelly | Collingdale, Pennsylvania | Served from 1970 until his death on November 22, 2018. |
47 years, 115 days | Nicholas B. Blase | Niles, Illinois | Served from May 2, 1961, until his resignation on August 25, 2008.[26] |
47 years, 104 days | Milt Kramer | Manchester, Iowa | Served from September 19, 1974, to January 1, 2022. |
43 years, 275 days | Noel B. Cummings | Hodgkins, Illinois | Served from 1979 until his formal retirement was announced on Oct. 3, 2022 at the age of 95.[27] |
46 years, 364 days | H. Ford Gravitt | Cumming, Georgia | Served from January 1, 1971, to December 31, 2017. |
46 years, 222 days | Joseph Sieb | Norridge, Illinois | Served from November 14, 1951, until his death on June 23, 1998.[28] |
44 years | Charles "Sonny" Penhale | Helena, Alabama | Served from 1968 to 2012.[29] |
44 years | Thomas M. Tartt | Livingston, Alabama | Served from 1980 to February 22, 2024. |
44 years | Gerald H. Thompson | Fitzgerald, Georgia | Served from January 1, 1968, to January 1, 2012. |
43–44 years | Richard A. Mola | Elmwood Park, New Jersey | Served from 1972 until his death in 2016.[30] |
43 years, 0 days | Paul W. Cassidy | Parma Heights, Ohio | Served from January, 1958 to January, 2001.[31] |
42 years, 0 days | Tom Reid | Pearland, Texas | Served from 1978 to 1990 and 1993 to May, 2020. |
42–43 years | Gary W. Starr | Middleburg Heights, Ohio | Entered office in 1981. |
41 years, 146 days | Erastus Corning II | Albany, New York | Served from January 2, 1942, to May 28, 1983. |
41 years, 239 days | Harold Wayne Ford | Galva, KS | Served from June 6, 1977, to January 31, 2019. He was the longest serving mayor of Galva, KS.[32] |
41 years | Glenn L. Sisco | Kinnelon, New Jersey | Served from 1969 to 2010.[33] |
40 years | George C. Clanton | Tappahannock, Virginia | Served from 1948 to 1988 |
40 years, 27 days | Joseph P. Riley Jr. | Charleston, South Carolina | Served from December 15, 1975, to January 11, 2016.[34] |
39–40 years | Louis Bay 2nd | Hawthorne, New Jersey | Served from 1947 to 1987. |
39 years, 363 days | William W. Dickinson Jr. | Wallingford, Connecticut | Served from January 2, 1984, to December 31, 2023. |
39 years, 100 days | John Ferrero | City of Industry, California | Served from Industry's incorporation in 1957 till his death on September 26, 1996.[35] |
37–38 years | James Eagan | Florissant, Missouri | Served from 1963 to 2000. |
36 years | Ross Aragon | Pagosa Springs, Colorado | Served from 1978 to 2014 |
36 years | Randall Ramsey | Parma, Missouri | Served from 1962 to 1974 and from 1991 to 2015.[36] |
35 years, 362 days | Orville L. Hubbard | Dearborn, Michigan | Served from 1942 to 1978. |
35 years, 54 days | Edward J. Zabrocki | Tinley Park, Illinois | Served from May 1, 1981, until his resignation in June, 2016. |
34–35 years | Willis Conner | Dexter, Missouri | Served for about 35 years.[37] |
34–35 years | Glendel Stephenson | Mebane, North Carolina | Served from 1975 to 1983 and 1993 to 2019.[38][39] |
33 years, 10 months | David W. Smith | Newark, California | Served from March 1978 to December 2011[40][41] |
33 years, 3 months | Joseph Barabe | Mellen, Wisconsin | Served from April 1987 to April 2001 and April 2003 to July 2022 |
33 years | Richard A. Nowack | Oak Grove, Illinois | Served from May 1978 until his death on September 20, 2011.[42] |
33 years | Joseph Smith | East Newark, New Jersey | Served from 1987 to 2020[43] |
32 years | Anthony Vacco | Evergreen Park, Illinois | Served from 1969 to 2001. |
32 years | Shawn Hogan | Hornell, New York | Served from 1985 to 2017. |
32 years | Kenneth J. Sims | Euclid, Ohio | Served from 1938 until his retirement in June 1970[44] |
31 years, 6 months | James A. Anzaldi | Clifton, New Jersey | Entered office July 1, 1990 and left office on December 31, 2022[45][46] |
30 years, 33 days | Frank Hague | Jersey City, New Jersey | Served from 1917 to 1947. |
30 years | Richard Homrighausen | Dover, Ohio | Served from 1992 until his suspension from office in May 2022 |
30 years | Emmett Dofner Jr. | McClelland, Iowa | Served from 1987 until his death on May 2, 2017.[47] |
29 years, 354 days | Daniel R. Brooks | North College Hill, Ohio | Served from January 1, 1984, until his resignation on December 21, 2013[48] |
29 years, 201 days | Dr. LeRoy G. Suire | Erath, Louisiana | Served from 1961 to 1990. |
29 years, 39 days | Willie Oswalt | Lake City, Georgia | Served from 1989 to 2018. |
28 years, 321 days | Arnold Klentz | West Allis, Wisconsin | Served from April 18, 1944, until his death on March 5, 1973.[49][50][Notes 2] |
28 years, 150 days | Don Plusquellic | Akron, Ohio | Served from January 1, 1987, until his resignation on May 31, 2015. |
28 years, 4 days | James Brainard | Carmel, Indiana | Served from January 1, 1996 to January 4, 2024 |
28 years | Paul Amico | Secaucus, New Jersey | Served from 1964 to 1992.[51] |
28 years | Henry Clark | Stephenville, Texas | Served from 1928 to 1956.[52] |
28 years, 0 days | Henry Maier | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Served from 1960 to 1988.[53] |
28 years | Walter A. Scott | Jackson, Mississippi | Served from 1917 to 1945.[54] |
28 years | Thomas Gerard Dunn | Elizabeth, New Jersey | 1964 to 1992. Longest-serving mayor of a city of more than 100,000 people.[55] |
28 years | George H. Lysle | McKeesport, Pennsylvania | Served from 1914 to 1942.[56] |
27 years, 364 days | Stephen R. Reed | Harrisburg, Pennsylvania | Served from 1982 to 2010. |
27 years, 0 days | Don Robart | Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio | Served from 1986 to 2013. |
26 years, 30 days | Miguel A. Pulido | Santa Ana, California | Served from 1994 to 2020. |
26 years | Manuel Lamela Abreu | Quebradillas, Puerto Rico | Served from 1918 to 1944. |
24 Years | Timothy Hanna | Appleton, Wisconsin | Served From 1996 to 2020. |
Notes
[edit]- ^ The date of inauguration for Mayor John Coyne is not clear. It is clear that his successor, Kenneth Patton, took office in January 2000. References appear to confuse the 1999 election defeat with the day he left office. Most references state that he served 52 years, some from 1947–1999, a few from 1948 to 1999, and others from 1948 to 2000.
- ^ Both sources agree that Klentz was inaugurated in 1944; West Allis gives a date of April 18. West Allis inaccurately gives Klentz's death date as March 1971, whereas the contemporary source cited gives it as March 5, 1973.
References
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- ^ "Mayor – William D. Tate | Grapevine, TX – Official Website". www.grapevinetexas.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- ^ "Mayor Scroggs holds top post for over 45 years". AccessWDUN. 27 October 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
- ^ A RESOLUTION honoring Wilmore Mayor Harold Rainwater as the longest-serving mayor in Kentucky (PDF) (Resolution 2318). House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. 16 April 2016.
- ^ Rutledge B. Leland III (House Resolution 4821). South Carolina General Assembly. 1 February 2018.
- ^ "McLemoresville Officials Administered Oath of Office". The Mckenzie Banner.
- ^ Staff (September 7, 2022). "Batavia Government Center to be named for Mayor Jeff Schielke". Shaw Local News Network. Archived from the original on September 7, 2022. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
When he first took office on May 4, 1981, Schielke was the youngest mayor in Batavia's history at age 32.
- ^ "Mayor Bennett's Biography".
- ^ "Milan Gets New Officials". The Rock Island Argus. Rock Island, Illinois. May 7, 1985. p. 7. Retrieved April 11, 2024 – via NewspaperArchive.
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- ^ NJ.com, Kathryn Brenzel | NJ Advance Media for (July 26, 2015). "25 years of Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner". nj.
{{cite web}}
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- ^ Iallonardo, Tony (November 15, 1999). "U.S. Has New "Longest-Serving Mayor". United States Conference of Mayors. Archived from the original on 2009-04-13. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
- ^ Arnold, Chad (April 7, 2021). "Blais celebrates 50 years as Lake George mayor". Adirondack Daily Enterprise. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
It was April 5, 1971 when he presided over his first Village Board meeting, shortly after taking his oath of office as mayor.
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He (Perry) began his new position on April 1, after serving on the Lake George Village Board of Trustees
- ^ Moore, William (December 31, 2020). "State's longest serving mayor dies from COVID-19 complications". Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. Tupelo, Mississippi.
- ^ Smith, Tierra (June 29, 2020). "Mayor of Stafford, the longest-serving mayor in the nation, dies at 79". KPRC.
- ^ Schneider, Andrew (2012). Nick Blase: The Prince of Niles, Illinois. Charleston, SC: The History Press. ISBN 9781609495497.
- ^ "The Village of Hodgkins Communicator (Fall 2022 yet to be released on website. Hardcopy was sent to residents on Oct 3, 2022)". Village of Hodgkins, Illinois.
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- ^ Etheredge, Alec (2021-01-22). "'He bled Helena': Former Helena Mayor Sonny Penhale dies at 89". Shelby County Reporter. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
- ^ "Richard Mola Obituary (2016) – Elmwood Park, NJ – The Record/Herald News". www.legacy.com.
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- ^ Rimbach, Jean. "New Clifton leaders make it official", The Record,July 2, 1990. Accessed December 18, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "Promising to guide Clifton in unity through what many say will be its toughest years yet, new Mayor James Anzaldi and his six council colleagues were sworn to office Sunday in a ceremony attended by more than 600 residents. The two-term councilman was named mayor by unanimous vote of the council during a small meeting that was later reenacted for the public."
- ^ Fagan, Matt. "Clifton's longest-serving mayor, James Anzaldi, not seeking reelection", The Record, August 31, 2022. Accessed December 18, 2023. "It appears that Clifton may get its first new mayor in 32 years.... He was first elected mayor by council colleagues in 1990, and he has remained the top vote-getter in every subsequent election."
- ^ "Emmett E. Dofner Jr. Obituary – Visitation & Funeral Information". www.cutleroneill.com. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
- ^ Evans, Brad (December 17, 2013), North College Hill mayor resigns unexpectedly, retrieved December 18, 2020
- ^ Muchka, Albert (2003). West Allis. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing. p. 57. ISBN 0-7385-3183-9.
- ^ "Fond Du Lac Reporter Newspaper Archives March 06, 1973 Page 8". newspaperarchive.com. 6 March 1973. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
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Thomas G. Dunn...had served as mayor of the largely working-class city for 28 years, but he was defeated in his own party's primary in June 1992. Still, his tenure earned him the distinction as the nation's longest-serving mayor of a city of more than 100,000 people.
- ^ "MAYOR LYSLE obit". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 1947-09-25. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-03-09.