Mayor of Galveston

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 and re-elected in 2022. His term currently expires in May 2024,^[1] although he is running for re-election.^[2] He took office in July 2020, succeeding the previous mayor, Jim Yarbrough.^[3]

History

Local politics in Galveston have a tradition of being nonpartisan. There are no party labels on local ballots.^[4]

Commission government

When Galveston originated the commission form of government, starting the year 1901,^[5][6] 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.^[7]

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 III	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."^[11]
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]
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.^[7] 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.^[22]
31		Isaac Herbert Kempner	1917	1919	—	Early advocate of the commission form of government.^[23]
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	—

References

1. "Galveston Mayor - Craig Brown". City of Galveston, Texas. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
2. "Galveston Mayor Craig Brown announces third bid". The Daily News. June 14, 2023.
3. "Galveston interim Mayor Brown seeks to stave off challenges from ex-mayor, three other candidates". Houston Chronicle. October 21, 2020.
4. "In unusual move, county GOP backs Quiroga for mayor". The Daily News. November 25, 2020.
5. Rice, Bradley R. (April 1975). "The Galveston Plan of City Government by Commission: The Birth of a Progressive Idea". The Southwestern Historical Quarterly. 78 (4): 365–408. JSTOR 30238355.
6. Rice, Bradley R. "Commission Form of City Government". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association.
7. 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. p. 10.
8. "City History". City of Galveston. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
9. Wheeler, Kenneth W. (1968). To Wear a City's Crown; the Beginnings of Urban Growth in Texas, 1836-1865. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 74 – via 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. Torget, Andrew J. ""Mayor's Office," Civilian and Galveston Gazette, April 16, 1842". Texas Slavery Project. University of Virginia. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
11. Wheeler, Kenneth W. (1968). To Wear a City's Crown; the Beginnings of Urban Growth in Texas, 1836-1865. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 108 – via The Wayback Machine.
12. Ragan, Cooper K. (November 1, 1994). "Joseph Bates". Texas State Historical Association.
13. Anonymous (June 9, 2020) Galveston Civilian Texas State Historical Association
14. Darst, Maury (1995) Galveston News Texas State Historical Association
15. City of Galveston Planning Commission. "19P-016 Staff Report". City of Galveston.
16. "James Cronican". Texas Legislators: Past & Present. Texas Legislative Reference Library.
17. Fayman, W. A.; Reilly, T. W. (1875). Fayman & Reilly's Galveston City Directory for 1875-76. Galveston: Strickland & Clark, Stationers, Printers and Lithographers – via University of North Texas Libraries.
18. Richardson, W. D. (1859). 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. Galveston: The "News" Book and Job Office – via University of North Texas Libraries.
19. "PGM Charles H. Leonard". Grand Lodge Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Texas. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
20. Galveston Police Department. "2012 Annual Report - History of the Department". City of Galveston. p. 9.
21. Various (January 7, 2021) [1900]. Coulter, John (ed.). The Complete Story of the Galveston Horror. United Publishers of America – via Project Gutenberg.
22. Fisher, Lewis (December 15, 1912). "Galveston's Splendid System". San José, California: San Jose Mercury and Herald. p. 17 – via University of California, Riverside Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research.
23. Hyman, Harold M. (1988). "I.H. Kempner and the Galveston Commission Government" (PDF). The Houston Review. 10 (2): 68 – via Houston History Magazine - University of Houston.