| Carl Axel Harstrom | |
| Birth Date: | 20 December 1863[1] |
| Birth Place: | Västerås, Sweden |
| Death Date: | [2] |
| Death Place: | Norwalk, Connecticut |
| Residence: | Norwalk, Connecticut |
| Office: | Mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut |
| Order: | 16th |
| Term Start: | October 13, 1915[3] |
| Term End: | 1917 |
| Predecessor: | Francis Irwin Burnell |
| Successor: | Jeremiah Donovan |
| Party: | Republican |
| Alma Mater: | Peekskill Military Academy (1880) Hobart College (A.B., 1886; M.A., 1889)[4] Yale College (1899, PhD.) |
| Occupation: | educator |
| Spouse: | Lee Selden Partridge(d . August 27, 1926) |
| Children: | Frances (b. 1890), Carl Eric (b. 1892) |
Carl Axel Harstrom (December 20, 1863 – January 24, 1926) was an American educator, and one-term Republican mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut, from 1915 to 1917.
Harstrom was born in Västerås, Sweden.[1] He was the son of Carl Gustaf and Amelia Adolphina Fosberg Harstrom.[1] [5] His father was a manufacturer in Sweden who brought his family to America in 1872, when Carl Axel was nine years of age.[1] He attended the Peekskill Military Academy, and graduated in 1880.[1] He taught school for two years before entering Hobart College.[1] He graduated as valedictory orator[4] and with magna cum laude honors.[1] He earned an A.B in 1886, and an M.A. in 1889.[1] [5] He served as headmaster at the Peekskill Academy for three years, and principle of Vienland Preparatory School for four years.[1] On June 20, 1888, Professor Harstrom married Lee Selden Partridge of Phelps, New York.[1] [5]
He moved to Norwalk in 1891 to take a position as headmaster of the Norwalk Military Academy.[1] He started his own private preparatory school for boys in Norwalk in 1893.[1]
While teaching and serving as headmaster, he also pursued his own education at Yale University in classical Philology from 1896 to 1899. He earned his PhD in 1899.[1] [5] He was a member of Theta Delta Chi, and served as its national president for five consecutive terms.[1]
In Norwalk, he served as a member of the Board of Estimate.[5] In 1915, Harstrom was elected mayor of Norwalk and served a two-year term. During his term of office he reconstructed the financial system, with the result of making it more transparent to the public.[5] He is credited with introducing voting machines to Norwalk.[5] He is also credited for the many miles of hard pavement laid during his term.[5]
During the World War he was chairman of the local draft board.[5] He was a founding board member of the Norwalk Savings Bank and of the Fairfield County Savings Bank.[5]