List of longest-serving mayors in the United States
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
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 |
---|---|---|---|
48 years, 210 days | Margaret M. Doud | Mackinac Island, Michigan | Entered office on April 1, 1975. |
47 years, 300 days | Robert Heidenescher | Dupont, Ohio | Entered office on January 1, 1976. |
47 years, 180 days | William D. Tate | Grapevine, Texas | Entered office on May 1, 1973. Served May 1, 1973 – May 1, 1985 and May 1, 1988–present[1] |
46–47 years | Lamar Scroggs | Oakwood, Georgia | Entered office in 1976.[2] |
46–47 years | Harold Rainwater | Wilmore, Kentucky | Entered office in 1976.[3] |
47 years, 300 days | Rutledge B. Leland, III | McClellanville, South Carolina | Entered office in 1976.[4] |
45 years, 355 days | Robert Chatfield | Prospect, Connecticut | Entered office on November 7, 1977. |
45–46 years | Phil Williams | McLemoresville, Tennessee | Entered office in 1977.[5] He is the longest serving mayor in Tennessee history. |
43–44 years | Marvin Johnson | Independence, Minnesota | Entered office in 1979. |
41–42 years | Mary Hawkins Butler | Madison, Mississippi | Entered office in 1981. |
41–42 years | Jeffery D. Schielke | Batavia, Illinois | Entered office in 1981. |
42 years, 114 days | Mark Anthony McClure | Danville, West Virginia | Entered office on July 6, 1981. |
40 years, 361 days | James V. Bender Jr | Pollocksville, North Carolina | Entered office on November 1, 1982. |
40 years, 300 days | William "Bill" McIntosh | Moultrie, Georgia | Entered office in 1983. |
39 years, 299 days | William W. Dickinson Jr. | Wallingford, Connecticut | Entered office in 1984. Will retire at the end of his term in late 2023. |
37–38 years | Louie Davis | Waldo, Florida | Entered office in 1985. |
36 years, 86 days | Carlos López Rivera | Dorado, Puerto Rico | Entered office on August 3, 1987. |
30 years, 300 days | J. Christian Bollwage | Elizabeth, New Jersey | Entered office on January 1, 1993.[6] |
29 years, 298 days | Dean J. Mazzarella | Leominster, Massachusetts | Entered office on January 3, 1994. |
Former mayors
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.[7] |
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. [8] |
58 years, 233 days | Robert Linn | Beaver, Pennsylvania | Served from January 2, 1946, to August 22, 2004. |
59 years, 280 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 | Robert L. Butler | Marion, Illinois | Served from May 1963 until his resignation on January 31, 2018. |
52 years | Gerald Calabrese | Cliffside Park, New Jersey | Served from 1961 to 1963 and 1965 to 2015.[9][10] |
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.[11][Notes 1] |
51 years | Donald Stephens | Rosemont, Illinois | First Mayor of Rosemont. Served from village's incorporation in 1956 to 2007. |
51 years | Robert M. Blais | Lake George, New York | Served from April 5, 1971, to March 31, 2023. |
50 years, 298 days | Leonard Scarcella | Stafford, Texas | Served from September 4, 1969, until his death on June 28, 2020.[12] |
50 years, 0 days years | 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.[13] |
47 years, 104 days | Milt Kramer | Manchester, Iowa | Served from September 19, 1974, to January 1, 2022. |
43–44 years | Noel B. Cummings | Hodgkins, Illinois | Served from 1979 until his formal retirement was announced on Oct. 3, 2022 at the age of 95. [14] |
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.[15] |
44 years | Charles "Sonny" Penhale | Helena, Alabama | Served from 1968 to 2012. [16] |
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.[17] |
43 years, 0 days | Paul W. Cassidy | Parma Heights, Ohio | Served from January, 1958 to January, 2001.[18] |
42 years, 0 days | Tom Reid | Pearland, Texas | Served from 1978 to 1990 and 1993 to May, 2020. |
41–42 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 | Glenn L. Sisco | Kinnelon, New Jersey | Served from 1969 to 2010. [19] |
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.[20] |
39–40 years | Louis Bay 2nd | Hawthorne, New Jersey | Served from 1947 to 1987. |
39 years, 299 days | William W. Dickinson Jr. | Wallingford, Connecticut | Entered office in 1984. |
39 years, 100 days | John Ferrero | City of Industry, California | Served from Industry's incorporation in 1957 till his death on September 26, 1996. [21] |
37–38 years | James Eagan | Florissant, Missouri | Served from 1963 to 2000. |
36 years | Randall Ramsey | Parma, Missouri | Served from 1962 to 1974 and from 1991 to 2015.[22] |
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.[23] |
34–35 years | Glendel Stephenson | Mebane, North Carolina | Served from 1975 to 1983 and 1993 to 2019.[24][25] |
33 years, 10 months | David W. Smith | Newark, California | Served from March 1978 to December 2011[26][27] |
33 years, 3 months | Joseph Barabe | Mellen, Wisconsin | Served from April 1987 to April 2001 and April 2003 to July 2022 |
33 years | Joseph Smith | East Newark, New Jersey | Served from 1987 to 2020[28] |
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 of 1970[29] |
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.[30] |
29–30 years | James A. Anzaldi | Clifton, New Jersey | Entered office in 1990. |
29 years, 354 days | Daniel R. Brooks | North College Hill, Ohio | Served from January 1, 1984, until his resignation on December 21, 2013[31] |
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.[32] [33][Notes 2] |
28 years, 150 days | Don Plusquellic | Akron, Ohio | Served from January 1, 1987, until his resignation on May 31, 2015. |
28 years | Paul Amico | Secaucus, New Jersey | Served from 1964 to 1992.[34] |
28 years, 0 days | Henry Maier | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Served from 1960 to 1988.[35] |
28 years | Walter A. Scott | Jackson, Mississippi | Served from 1917 to 1945.[36] |
28 years | Thomas Gerard Dunn | Elizabeth, New Jersey | 1964 to 1992. Longest-serving mayor of a city of more than 100,000 people.[37] |
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 | Manuel Lamela Abreu | Quebradillas, Puerto Rico | Served from 1918 to 1944. |
Notes
- 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
- "Mayor – William D. Tate | Grapevine, TX – Official Website". www.grapevinetexas.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- "Mayor Scroggs holds top post for over 45 years". AcessWDUN. 27 October 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
- "A RESOLUTION honoring Wilmore Mayor Harold Rainwater as the longest-serving mayor in Kentucky.". Resolution No. 2318 of 16 April 2016 (PDF). House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
- "Rutledge B. Leland III". House Resolution No. 4821 of 1 February 2018. South Carolina General Assembly.
- https://www.mckenziebanner.com/stories/mcley-oath-of-office,30019
- "Our Mayor | Elizabeth, NJ". www.elizabethnj.org.
- "15 mayors in major cities that have served as long – or longer – than Cleveland's Frank Jackson". cleveland. November 9, 2017.
- "Charles E. Long – View Obituary & Service Information". Charles E. Long Obituary.
- "Man Believed to Be New Jersey's Longest-Serving Mayor Dies", Associated Press, April 13, 2015.
- "Hundreds gather at funeral for Gerry Calabrese, N.J.'s longest serving mayor – News – NorthJersey.com". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
- 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.
- 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.
- "Village History | Village of Norridge".
- 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.
- Segall, Grant (July 11, 2013). "Mayor Paul W. Cassidy led Parma Heights for 43 years: news obituary". Cleveland Plain Dealer.
- Fagan, Matt (January 4, 2017), Former mayor appointed to vacant Kinnelon Council seat, North Jersey, retrieved October 13, 2023
- Seabrook, Andrea (January 19, 2008), Charleston Mayor Reflects on 30 Years in Office, NPR, retrieved April 29, 2015
- "Legacy of Fallen Mayor Reverberates in Industry's Name". Los Angeles Times. September 28, 1996. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
- "Tiny Missouri Town Plagued By Resignations After Electing First Black Mayor". NBC. April 21, 2015.
- "Missouri Obituary and Death Notice Archive". Retrieved 2021-04-13.
- "Glendel Stephenson, Mayor – City of Mebane". cityofmebane.com. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
- Williams, Jessica. "Stephenson to retire after 35 years as Mebane's mayor". The Times-News. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
- https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM15H1Y_David_W_Smith_City_Hall_Newark_CA
- "Longest Standing Mayor Bids Newark Farewell".
- "Grilo takes over for Hudson's longest-serving mayor". New Jersey Globe. January 5, 2020.
- Williams, John (2010-06-24). "Sims – Leader and shaper of today's Euclid". Euclid Observer. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
- "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.
- "Paul Amico, a longtime Secaucus mayor, dies at 103". usatoday.com. Retrieved 2022-12-20.
- "Maier Ends 28 Years As Milwaukee's Mayor on April 21, 1988". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
- "Hattiesburg American from Hattiesburg, Mississippi on June 28, 1963 · 2". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2021-05-16.
- "Thomas Dunn, 76, Longtime Elizabeth Mayor". New York Times. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
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.