List of mayors of Buffalo, New York explained

The following is a list of people who have served as mayors of the city of Buffalo in the U.S. state of New York.

Post:	Mayor
Body:	the City of Buffalo
Insignia:	Seal of Buffalo, New York.svg
Insigniasize:	115px
Insigniacaption:	Seal of the City of Buffalo
Flag:	Flag of Buffalo, New York.svg
Flagsize:	135px
Flagcaption:	Flag of the City of Buffalo
Incumbent:	Byron Brown
Incumbentsince:	January 1, 2006
Department:	Government of Buffalo
Style:	The Honorable (formal) Mr. Mayor (informal)
Seat:	Buffalo City Hall
Constituting Instrument:	Buffalo City Charter
Termlength:	Four years; renewable
Succession:	Deputy Mayor of Buffalo
Formation:	1832
Deputy:	Deputy Mayor of Buffalo
Salary:	$178,519 (2024)
Inaugural:	Ebenezer Johnson

List of mayors

See main article: article and Politics and government of Buffalo, New York.

	Name	Party	Term in office	Election	Notes
1	Ebenezer Johnson	Democratic-Republican	May 1832 – March 1833	class=nowrap	1832	Doctor during the War of 1812^[1]
2	Major Andre Andrews	Independent	March 1833 – 1834	class=nowrap	1833	Founding member of the first Bank of Buffalo
3	Ebenezer Johnson	Democratic-Republican	1834 – 1835	class=nowrap	1834
4	Hiram Pratt	Whig	1835 – 1836	class=nowrap	1835
5	Samuel Wilkeson	Independent	1836 – March 14, 1837	class=nowrap	1836
6	Josiah Trowbridge	Whig	March 14, 1837 – December 21, 1837	class=nowrap	1837
7	Pierre A. Barker	Independent	December 21, 1837 – March 13, 1838	–
8	Ebenezer Walden	Whig	March 13, 1838 – 1839	class=nowrap	1838
9	Hiram Pratt	Whig	1839 – 1840	class=nowrap	1839
10	Sheldon Thompson	Whig	1840 – March 2, 1841	class=nowrap	1840
11	Isaac R. Harrington	Whig	March 2, 1841 – March 8, 1842	class=nowrap	1841
12	George William Clinton	Independent	March 8, 1842 – 1843	class=nowrap	1842	Served as the 7th United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York
13	Joseph G. Masten	Democratic	1843 – 1844	class=nowrap	1843
14	William Ketchum	Whig	1844 – 1845	class=nowrap	1844
15	Joseph G. Masten	Democratic	1845 – 1846	class=nowrap	1845
16	Solomon G. Haven	Whig	1846 – 1847	class=nowrap	1846
17	Elbridge G. Spaulding	Whig	1847 – 1848	class=nowrap	1847	Served as New York State Treasurer from 1854–1855 and was twice elected to the U.S. House of Representatives
18	Orlando Allen	Whig	1848 – 1849	–----1848
19	Hiram Barton	Whig	1849 – 1850	class=nowrap	1849
20	Henry K. Smith	Democratic	1850 – March 4, 1851	class=nowrap	1850
21	James Wadsworth	Democratic	March 4, 1851 – March 9, 1852	class=nowrap	1851
22	Hiram Barton	Whig	March 9, 1852 – 1853	class=nowrap	1852
23	Eli Cook	Democratic	1853 – 1855	class=nowrap	March 1853----November 1853
24	Frederick P. Stevens	Democratic	1856 – 1857	class=nowrap	1855
25	Timothy T. Lockwood	Democratic	1858 – January 2, 1860	class=nowrap	1857
26	Franklin A. Alberger	Republican	January 2, 1860 – January 6, 1862	class=nowrap	1859
27	William G. Fargo	Democratic	January 6, 1862 – 1866	class=nowrap	1861----1863	Co-founded the modern day financial firms of American Express and Wells Fargo^[2]
28	Chandler J. Wells	Republican	1866 – 1867	class=nowrap	1865
29	William F. Rogers	Democratic	1868 – 1869	class=nowrap	1867
30	Alexander Brush	Republican	1870 – 1873	class=nowrap	1869----1872 (special)
31	Lewis P. Dayton	Democratic	1874 – 1875	class=nowrap	1873
32	Philip Becker	Republican	1876 – January 7, 1878	class=nowrap	1875
33	Solomon Scheu	Democratic	January 7, 1878 – January 1880	class=nowrap	1877
34	Alexander Brush	Republican	January 1880 – January 2, 1882	class=nowrap	1879
35	Grover Cleveland	Democratic	January 2, 1882 – November 20, 1882	class=nowrap	1881	Elected 22nd & 24th President of the United States. The only American President to be mayor of a major city.
36	Marcus M. Drake	Republican	November 20, 1882 – December 29, 1882	–
37	Harmon S. Cutting	Democratic	December 29, 1882 – January 16, 1883	–
38	John B. Manning	Democratic	January 16, 1883 – January 6, 1884	class=nowrap	1883 (special)
39	Jonathan Scoville	Democratic	January 6, 1884 – 1885	class=nowrap	1883
40	Philip Becker	Republican	1886 – 1890	class=nowrap	1885----1887
41	Charles F. Bishop	Democratic	1890 – 1894	class=nowrap	1889----1891
42	Edgar B. Jewett	Republican	1895 – 1897	class=nowrap	1894
43	Conrad Diehl	Democratic	1898 – 1901	class=nowrap	1897
44	Erastus C. Knight	Republican	1902 – 1905	class=nowrap	1900
45	James N. Adam	Democratic	1906 – 1909	class=nowrap	1905
46	Louis P. Fuhrmann	Democratic	1910 – 1917	class=nowrap	1909----1913
47	George S. Buck	Republican	1918 – 1921	class=nowrap	1917
48	Frank X. Schwab	Republican	1922 – 1929	class=nowrap	1921----1925
49	Charles E. Roesch	Republican	1930 – 1933	class=nowrap	1929
50	George J. Zimmermann	Democratic	1934 – 1937	class=nowrap	1933
51	Thomas L. Holling	Democratic	1938 – 1941	class=nowrap	1937
52	Joseph J. Kelly	Democratic	1942 – 1945	class=nowrap	1941
53	Bernard J. Dowd	Republican	1946 – 1949	class=nowrap	1945
54	Joseph Mruk	Republican	January 1, 1950 – December 31, 1953	class=nowrap	1949
55	Steven Pankow	Democratic	January 1, 1954 – December 31, 1957	class=nowrap	1953
56	Frank A. Sedita	Democratic	January 1, 1958 – December 31, 1961	class=nowrap	1957
57	Chester A. Kowal	Republican	January 1, 1962 – December 31, 1965	class=nowrap	1961
58	Frank A. Sedita	Democratic	January 1, 1966 – March 5, 1973	class=nowrap	1965----1969
59	Stanley M. Makowski	Democratic	March 5, 1973 – December 31, 1977	–----1973
60	James D. Griffin	Democratic	January 1, 1978 – December 31, 1993	class=nowrap	1977----1981----1985----1989
61	Anthony Masiello	Democratic	January 1, 1994 – December 31, 2005	class=nowrap	1993----1997----2001
62	Byron Brown	Democratic	January 1, 2006 – Present	class=nowrap	2005----2009----2013----2017----2021

Number of mayors by party affiliation

Party	Mayors
Democratic	29
Democratic-Republican	2
Republican	15
Whig	12
No Party	4

History

In 1853, the charter of the city was amended to include the town of Black Rock and the city proper was divided into thirteen wards. In addition, the term of city offices, including mayor changed from a one-year term to a two-year term and was elected directly by the people.^[3]

Mayoral elections

(winners are in bold)

Date	Candidates
	Grover Cleveland
	15,120	11,528
January 9, 1883	John B. Manning	Robert R. Hefford
	11,036	7,321
November 6, 1973	Stanley M. Makowski	Stewart M. Levy	John A. Westra	Patrick W. Giagnacova	Ira Liebowitz
	77,569	24,423	2,640	1,147	597
	Anthony Masiello	Richard A. Grimm
	36,092	9,277	7,566
	Byron Brown	Kevin Helfer	Judith Einach	Charles Flynn
	46,613	19,853	3,525	3,082
	Byron Brown
	17,728	158
	Byron Brown	Sergio Rodriguez
	26,120	10,733
	Byron Brown		Anita Howard	Terrence Robinson	Taniqua Simmons
	29,688	11,446	1,357	1,276	102
November 2, 2021	Byron Brown	India Walton	Ben Carlisle	Jaz Miles	William O'Dell
	38,338	25,773	219	23	8

Notes and References

Web site: Dr. Ebenezer Johnson. 2009-05-27. Through The Mayor's Eyes, The Only Complete History of the Mayor's of Buffalo, New York, Compiled by Michael Rizzo. The Buffalonian is produced by The Peoples History Union. 2016-08-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20110926223001/http://www.buffalonian.com/history/industry/mayors/Johnson.htm. 2011-09-26. dead.
Book: Grossman. Peter Z.. American Express: The Unofficial History of the People Who Built the Great Financial Empire. 1987. Crown Publishers. New York. 1-58798-283-8.
Book: Fargo. Francis F.. Memorial of the City and County Hall Opening Ceremonies. 1876. Courier Company, printers. Buffalo, N.Y.. 142. Elbridge G. Spaulding mayor of buffalo term.. 16 August 2016. en.