Mayor of Galveston explained

The mayor of Galveston is the official head of the city of Galveston in the U.S. state of Texas. The incumbent mayor is Craig Brown, who was elected in 2020, re-elected in 2022,^{[1] [2]} and was re-elected to another three-year term on May 4, 2024.^[3] He took office in July 2020, succeeding the previous mayor, Jim Yarbrough.^[4]

History

Local politics in Galveston have a tradition of being nonpartisan. There are no party labels on local ballots.^[5]

Commission government

When Galveston originated the commission form of government, starting the year 1901,^{[6] [7]} the mayor officially held the title of "Mayor-President" and was president of the board of commissioners. Galveston's first mayor under the commission system was William T. Austin, who served for four years.

Council-manager government

The city of Galveston has had a council-manager system of government since its adoption of the form in 1961.^[8]

List of mayors and mayor-presidents of the board of commissioners

Below is a list of Galveston's mayors and presidents of the Board of Commissioners.

No.	Image	Mayor	Term start	Term end	Party	Note
1		John Melville Allen	March 1839	June 1840		Democratic^[9]	First Mayor of Galveston
2		John H. Walton	June 1840	May 1841
3		John Melville Allen	1841	1842		Democratic
4		James M. Branham	1842	1843		Announced a curfew for all blacks, free and slave, in the city of Galveston that prohibited being in public after 8pm without a permit and forbade being in public after 10pm in all cases.^[10]
5		John Melville Allen	1843	1846		Democratic
6		John Seabrook Sydnor	1846	1847		Plantation owner that operated "the largest slave market west of New Orleans in the heart of Galveston".^[11]
7		Joseph Bates	1848	1848		Whig	Fought in the Second Seminole War, was a representative of the Alabama legislature.^[12]
8		Hamilton Stuart	1849	1852		Democratic	Founder of the Galveston Civilian,^[13] once argued "that the products of slave labor sustain the commerce of the world, civilization and Christianity."
9		Michael Seeligson	1853	June 1853		Resigned in June.
10		Willard B. Richardson	1853	1854		Mayor pro tempore, editor, partner and proprietor of the Galveston News.^[14] ^[15]
11		James Cronican	1854	1855		Had previously represented the district of Galveston in the First Texas Legislature from February 1846 to December 1847.^[16]
12		James Edward Haviland	1855	1856
13		John Henry Brown	1856	1857		Democratic	Later became the mayor of Dallas.
14		Thomas Miller Joseph	1858	1862		Democratic	Leslie A. Thompson was claimed to be the mayor in 1858 in some later sources. However, he is only mentioned as a city alderman in 1856^[17] and 1857.^[18]
		Vacant	1863	1863
15		Charles Henry Leonard	1864	1867		Democratic	Former soldier of the Texian Army, fought to suppress the Córdova Rebellion and Native American revolts in 1838 under General Rusk.^[19]
16		J. C. Haviland	1867	June 17, 1867		Major General Charles Griffin, commander of the Fifth Military District, ordered Haviland to disband the city's entire police force. Haviland was removed from office by Griffin as he was considered "an impediment to reconstruction"^[20] on June 17, 1867.
17		Isaac G. Williams	1867	1869		Appointed to fill the vacancy after Haviland was removed from office.
18		James A. McKee	1869	March 6, 1871		Republican
19		Albert Somerville	June 5, 1871	1873
20		Charles W. Hurley	1873	1875
21		Robert L. Fulton	1875	1877		Democratic
22		D. C. Stone	1877	1879
23		Charles Henry Leonard	1879	1881		Democratic
24		L. C. Fisher	1881	1883
25		Robert L. Fulton	1883	1893		Democratic
26		Ashley Wilson Fly	1893	1899
27		Walter Charles Jones	1899	1900		Mayor during the Great Storm of 1900.^[21]
28		William T. Austin	1901	1905		First mayor under the commission plan.^[22] Died in office.
29		Henry A. Landes	1905	1909		Elected as mayor-president after Austin's death.
30		Lewis Dallam Fisher	1909	1917		Under his administration the seawall was first built.^[23]
31		Isaac Herbert Kempner	1917	1919		Early advocate of the commission form of government.^[24]
32		Harry O. Sappington	1919	1921
33		Charles H. Keenan	1921	1923
34		Baylis Earle Harriss	1923	1925
35		John Elias Pearce	1925	1935
36		Adrian F. Levy	1935	1939
37		Brantly Callaway Harris	1939	1942
38		Henry W. Flagg	1942	1943
39		George W. Frazer	1943	1947
40		Herbert Yemon Cartwright Jr.	1947	1955
41		George Roy Clough	1955	1959
42		Herbert Yemon Cartwright Jr.	1959	1960
43		Edward Schreiber	1961	1962
44		Theodore B. Stubbs	1962	1963
45		Edward Schreiber	1964	1970
46		Marcus Lamar Ross	1971	1973
47		Ralph Albert Apfell	1973	1977
48		Elias "Gus" Manuel	1978	February 2, 1984		Died in office.
49		Janice Reddig Coggeshall	1984	1989
50		Barbara Krantz Crews	1990	1996
51		Henry Freudenburg III	1996	1998
52		Roger Reuben "Bo" Quiroga	1998	2004
53		Lyda Ann Thomas	2004	2010
54		Joe Jaworski	2010	2012		Democratic
55		Lewis S. Rosen	June 22, 2012	2014
56		James D. "Jim" Yarbrough	2014	July 15, 2020		Democratic
57		Craig K. Brown	July 2020	Present

Notes and References

1. Web site: Galveston Mayor - Craig Brown. November 28, 2023. City of Galveston, Texas.
2. News: Galveston Mayor Craig Brown announces third bid. June 14, 2023. The Daily News.
3. News: Grunau. Sarah. Galveston County elections: city council candidate considering calling recount after loss by one vote. Houston Public Media. May 6, 2024.
4. News: Galveston interim Mayor Brown seeks to stave off challenges from ex-mayor, three other candidates. Houston Chronicle. October 21, 2020.
5. News: In unusual move, county GOP backs Quiroga for mayor. The Daily News. November 25, 2020.
6. Rice. Bradley R.. The Galveston Plan of City Government by Commission: The Birth of a Progressive Idea. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly. 78. 4. 365–408. April 1975. 30238355.
7. Web site: Rice. Bradley R.. Commission Form of City Government. Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association.
8. Web site: City History. City of Galveston. February 4, 2024.
9. Book: Wheeler, Kenneth W.. To Wear a City's Crown; the Beginnings of Urban Growth in Texas, 1836-1865. 1968. Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard University Press. 74. The Wayback Machine. The incumbent mayor, John B. Allen,[sic] a professional revolutionist who had been with Lord Byron when he died in Greece and who had been a military hero at the Battle of San Jacinto, was a dedicated democrat..
10. Web site: Torget. Andrew J.. "Mayor's Office," Civilian and Galveston Gazette, April 16, 1842. Texas Slavery Project. University of Virginia. December 25, 2023.
11. Book: Wheeler, Kenneth W.. To Wear a City's Crown; the Beginnings of Urban Growth in Texas, 1836-1865. 1968. Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard University Press. 108. The Wayback Machine.
12. Web site: Ragan. Cooper K.. Joseph Bates. Texas State Historical Association. November 1, 1994.
13. Anonymous (June 9, 2020) Galveston Civilian Texas State Historical Association
14. Darst, Maury (1995) Galveston News Texas State Historical Association
15. Web site: City of Galveston Planning Commission. 19P-016 Staff Report. City of Galveston.
16. Web site: James Cronican. Texas Legislators: Past & Present. Texas Legislative Reference Library.
17. Book: Fayman. W. A.. Reilly. T. W.. Fayman & Reilly's Galveston City Directory for 1875-76. 1875. Galveston. Strickland & Clark, Stationers, Printers and Lithographers. University of North Texas Libraries.
18. Book: Richardson, W. D.. Galveston Directory for 1859--60: with a Brief History of the Island, Prior to the Foundation of the City. The Successive Mayoralties of the City to the Present Time–Provisions of the Present Charter and Ordinances Now in Force. Also Some Account of the Various Public Institutions, Improvements, Commerce, &c., of the City.. 1859. Galveston. The "News" Book and Job Office. University of North Texas Libraries.
19. Web site: PGM Charles H. Leonard. Grand Lodge Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Texas. November 30, 2023.
20. Web site: Galveston Police Department. 2012 Annual Report - History of the Department. City of Galveston. 9.
21. Book: Various. Coulter. John. 1900. The Complete Story of the Galveston Horror. United Publishers of America. January 7, 2021. Project Gutenberg.
22. Hornady. J. R.. 1911. Amazing Growth of a New Idea; How Four Cities Found Freedom and Prosperity in the Commission Plan Initiated by Galveston, Texas. Uncle Remus's Home Magazine. Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia State University. 10.
23. News: Fisher. Lewis. Galveston's Splendid System. San José, California. San Jose Mercury and Herald. December 15, 1912. 17. University of California, Riverside Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research.
24. Hyman. Harold M.. 1988. I.H. Kempner and the Galveston Commission Government. The Houston Review. 10. 2. 68. Houston History Magazine - University of Houston.