Mayor of St. Louis

The mayor of St. Louis is the chief executive officer of St. Louis's city government. The mayor has a duty to enforce city ordinances and the power to either approve or veto city ordinances passed by the Board of Aldermen.[2] The current mayor is Tishaura Jones, who took office on April 20, 2021.

Mayor of St. Louis
Seal of St. Louis
Flag of St. Louis
Incumbent
Tishaura Jones
since April 20, 2021 (April 20, 2021)
StyleHis/Her Honor
Term lengthFour years
Inaugural holderWilliam Carr Lane
FormationApril 14, 1823
SuccessionPresident of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen
Salary$170,000[1]
WebsiteOffice of the Mayor
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Forty-seven people have held the office, four of whom — William Carr Lane, John Fletcher Darby, John Wimer, and John How — served non-consecutive terms. Lane, the city's first mayor, served the most terms: eight one-year terms plus the unexpired term of Darby. Francis Slay is the longest-serving mayor, having served four 4-year terms. The second-longest-serving mayor was Henry Kiel, who served 12 years and nine days over three terms in office. Two others — Raymond Tucker and Vincent C. Schoemehl — also served three terms, but seven fewer days. The shortest-serving mayor was Arthur Barret, who died 11 days after taking office. The first female mayor was Lyda Krewson, who served from 2017 to 2021.

Duties and powers

St. Louis was incorporated as a city on December 9, 1822, four months after Missouri was admitted as a state to the Union. In accordance with its new charter, the city changed its governance to a mayor-council format and elected its first mayor, William Carr Lane, on April 7, 1823.[3]

Elections

The mayor is elected for four years during the general municipal election, which is held every two years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April. (Party primary elections are held in March.) The mayor is usually sworn during the first session of the Board of Aldermen two weeks after the election.

Under the original city charter, the mayor was elected to a one-year term. Terms became two years under the 1859 city charter.[4] The mayor's office was extended to its present four-year term after passage of the Charter and Scheme in 1876 which separated the City of St. Louis from St. Louis County.[5]

The mayor is not term limited.

Succession

If the office of mayor becomes vacant through death, resignation, recall, or removal by the board of aldermen, the president of the board of aldermen becomes mayor until a special mayoral election can be held; if the office is only temporarily vacant due to disability of the mayor, the president only acts out the duties of mayor. Should both offices be vacant, the vice-president of the board of aldermen becomes mayor.[2]

Five people have acted as mayor: Wilson Primm following the resignation of John Darby; Ferdinand W. Cronenbold following the resignation of Chauncey Filley; Herman Rechtien following the death of Arthur Barret; George W. Allen following the resignation of David Francis; and Aloys P. Kaufmann following the death of William Becker.

List of mayors
# Portrait Mayor Term start Term end Terms[B]   Party
1 William Carr Lane April 14, 1823April 14, 18296 Whig
2 Daniel Page April 14, 1829November 11, 18334½[C] Whig
3 John W. Johnston November 11, 1833April 14, 18351½[C] Whig
4 John Fletcher Darby April 14, 1835October 31, 18372½[D] Whig
— Wilson Primm October 31, 1837November 15, 1837—[E] Whig
1 William Carr Lane November 15, 1837April 14, 18402½ Whig
4 John Fletcher Darby April 14, 1840April 13, 18411 Whig
5 John D. Daggett April 13, 1841April 12, 18421 Whig
6 George Maguire April 12, 1842April 11, 18431 Democratic
7 John Wimer April 11, 1843April 9, 18441 Democratic
8 Bernard Pratte April 9, 1844April 14, 18462 Whig
9 Peter G. Camden April 14, 1846April 13, 18471 Know Nothing
10 Bryan Mullanphy April 13, 1847April 11, 18481 Democratic
11 John Krum April 10, 1849April 10, 18491 Democratic
12 James G. Barry April 10, 1849April 9, 18501 Democratic
13 Luther Martin Kennett April 9, 1850April 12, 18533 Whig
14 John How April 12, 1853April 10, 18552 Democratic
15 Washington King April 10, 1855April 15, 18561 Know Nothing
14 John How April 15, 1856April 14, 18571 Democratic
7 John Wimer April 14, 1857April 13, 18581 Democratic
16 Oliver Filley April 13, 1858April 9, 18612[F] Republican
17 Daniel G. Taylor April 9, 1861April 14, 18631[G] Republican
18 Chauncey Filley April 14, 1863March 19, 1864½[H] Republican
— Ferdinand W. Cronenbold March 19, 1864April 11, 1864—[I]
19 James Thomas April 11, 1864April 13, 18692½ Republican
20 Nathan Cole April 13, 1869April 11, 18711 Republican
21 Joseph Brown April 11, 1871April 13, 18752 War Democrat
22 Arthur Barret April 13, 1875April 24, 1875⅓[J][K] Democratic
— Herman Rechtien April 24, 1875May 29, 1875—[L]
23 James H. Britton May 29, 1875February 9, 1876⅓[M] Democratic
24 Henry Overstolz February 9, 1876April 12, 18811⅓[L][N] Independent
25 William L. Ewing April 12, 1881April 14, 18851 Republican
26 David R. Francis April 14, 1885January 2, 18891[O] Democratic
— George W. Allen January 2, 1889April 6, 1889—[P] Democratic
27 Edward A. Noonan April 6, 1889April 8, 18931 Democratic
28 Cyrus Walbridge April 8, 1893April 10, 18971 Republican
29 Henry Ziegenhein April 10, 1897April 9, 19011 Republican
30 Rolla Wells April 9, 1901April 13, 19092 Democratic
31 Frederick Kreismann April 13, 1909April 12, 19131 Republican
32 Henry Kiel April 12, 1913April 21, 19253 Republican
33 Victor J. Miller April 21, 1925April 18, 19332 Republican
34 Bernard F. Dickmann April 18, 1933April 15, 19412 Democratic
35 William D. Becker April 15, 1941August 1, 1943½[J] Republican
36 Aloys P. Kaufmann August 1, 1943April 19, 19491½[Q] Republican
37 Joseph Darst April 19, 1949April 21, 19531 Democratic
38 Raymond Tucker April 21, 1953April 20, 19653 Democratic
39 Alfonso J. Cervantes April 20, 1965April 17, 19732 Democratic
40 John Poelker April 17, 1973April 19, 19771 Democratic
41 James F. Conway April 19, 1977April 21, 19811 Democratic
42 Vincent C. Schoemehl April 21, 1981April 20, 19933 Democratic
43 Freeman Bosley Jr. April 20, 1993April 15, 19971 Democratic
44 Clarence Harmon April 15, 1997April 17, 20011 Democratic
45 Francis Slay April 17, 2001April 18, 20174 Democratic
46 Lyda Krewson April 18, 2017April 20, 20211 Democratic
47 Tishaura Jones April 20, 2021Incumbent1 Democratic
The Mayor of St. Louis has an office on the second floor of City Hall.

Notes
  • A. ^ 47 people have served as mayor, four twice; the table includes these non-consecutive terms as well.
  • B. ^ The fractional terms of some mayors are not to be understood absolutely literally; rather, they are meant to show single terms during which multiple mayors served, due to resignations, deaths and the like.
  • C. a b Samuel Merry was elected mayor of St. Louis in April 1833; however, his eligibility was questioned by the City Council as he was a federal officer—United States Receiver of Public Moneys in St. Louis. Merry filed suit to force the council's compliance and in October 1833, he was ruled ineligible by the Missouri Supreme Court.[6] Johnston was elected mayor in a special mayoral election held a month later on November 9. Page continued to serve as mayor until the case was settled and Johnston elected.[7][8]
  • D. ^ Darby resigned from office. William Carr Lane was later elected to fill the vacancy.[9]
  • E. ^ As president of the Board of Aldermen, Primm acted as mayor following the resignation of Darby.[10]
  • F. ^ Oliver Filley's second term was the first mayoral term to last 2 years.[4]
  • G. ^ Daniel G. Taylor was the candidate of a one-time coalition of traditional Missouri Democrats, pro-slavery activists, and secessionists calling itself the "Union Anti-Black Republican" ticket. The coalition was suspicious of the Abolitionist platform of the Republican party, and argued that St. Louis should not be governed by "Black Abolitionists" who would support newly elected President Lincoln in acting, including the use of military force, to prevent secession of southern states. Mayor Taylor worked in concert with Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, until Jackson fled the state capitol to establish a Confederate aligned state government-in-exile. Mayor Taylor then cooperated with the new conservative-Unionist Governor, Hamilton Gamble.
  • H. ^ Chauncey Filley resigned after serving one year of his two-year term as mayor due to poor health.[11][12]
  • I. ^ As president of the Board of Common Council, Cronenbold acted as mayor following the resignation of Chauncey Filley.
  • J. a b Died in office.
  • K. ^ Barret became suddenly ill and died after only 11 days in office.[13][14]
  • L. ^ As president of the City Council, Rechtin acted as mayor following the death of Arthur Barret.[14][15]
  • M. a b Henry Overstolz was declared defeated by James Britton in the 1875 election, but contested the election and was seated as mayor nine months later after a recount of the ballots.[16]
  • N. ^ Per the new city charter of 1876, Overstolz became the first mayor of St. Louis elected to a four-year term.[5]
  • O. ^ Resigned from office to become Governor of Missouri.[17]
  • P. ^ As president of the City Council, Allen acted as mayor following the resignation of David Francis.[17][18]
  • Q. ^ As president of the Board of Aldermen, Kaufmann became mayor following the death of William Becker. He was later elected mayor, in a special mayoral election in November 1944, to fill Becker's unexpired term.[19]

References
General
  • "St. Louis Mayors". St. Louis Public Library. Archived from the original on June 6, 2008. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
  • "Laws of the City of St. Louis". St. Louis Public Library. Archived from the original on June 14, 2008. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
  • Cornwell, Charles H. (1965). St. Louis Mayors: Brief Biographies. St. Louis, Missouri: St. Louis Public Library.
  • Reavis, L. U. (1876). Saint Louis: The Future Great City of the World (Centennial ed.). St. Louis: C. R. Barns. pp. 74–77. OCLC 2186198. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
  • Stevens, Walter Barlow (1911). St. Louis: The Fourth City, 1764-1911. The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. pp. 91–123. OCLC 9351989. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
Charters
Specific
  1. Jeffrey, Jeff (October 8, 2018). "Public paychecks: Here's how much Mayor Krewson gets paid and how her salary stacks up nationally". KSDK. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
  2. "St. Louis City Charter, Article VII". St. Louis Public Library. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2008.
  3. Conard, Howard Louis (1901). Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri. Vol. 1. New York ; Louisville ; St. Louis: The Southern History Company. pp. 569–572. OCLC 32872107.
  4. "St. Louis Mayors: Oliver D. Filley". St. Louis Public Library. Archived from the original on January 7, 2009. Retrieved July 21, 2008.
  5. "St. Louis Mayors: Henry Overstolz". St. Louis Public Library. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2008.
  6. State v. Samuel Merry (Mo. 1833).Text
  7. "St. Louis Mayors: John W. Johnston". St. Louis Public Library. Archived from the original on November 21, 2008. Retrieved September 3, 2008.
  8. Shepard, Elihu Hotchkiss (1870). The Early History of St. Louis and Missouri. Saint Louis: Southwestern Book and Publishing Company. p. 112. OCLC 2804761. Retrieved September 3, 2008.
  9. Stevens, Walter Barlow (1911). St. Louis: The Fourth City, 1764-1911. The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. p. 112. OCLC 9351989. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
  10. "Proceedings of the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis". Daily Commercial Bulletin and Missouri Literary Register. December 2, 1837.
  11. "St. Louis Mayors: Chauncey I. Filley". St. Louis Public Library. Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved July 21, 2008.
  12. Missouri Democrat. March 16, 1864. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. Reavis, L. U. (1875). Saint Louis: The Future Great City of the World (Biographical ed.). Saint Louis, MO: Gray, Baker & Co. pp. 467–470. OCLC 1805694. Retrieved July 21, 2008.
  14. "Arthur B. Barret. The Mayor's Illness Results in Death This Morning". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. April 24, 1875.
  15. "A Municipal Row". The Inter Ocean. May 19, 1875.
  16. "St. Louis Mayors: James H. Britton". St. Louis Public Library. Archived from the original on January 7, 2009. Retrieved July 21, 2008.
  17. "The City Hall Change". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. January 2, 1889. p. 10.
  18. "Next Municipal Chief". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. January 2, 1889. p. 2.
  19. "Aloys P. Kaufmann". The New York Times. February 15, 1984. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
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