File:Mayors of New Brunswick in The Central New Jersey Home News of New Brunswick, New Jersey on 19 December 1937.jpg

Mayors Who Have Guided City Since Constitution Total 44. Brief Biographies of Men Who Have Been Leaders Here. Beginning with Azariah Dunham, who was mayor at the time of the signing of the constitution, New Brunswick has in all had 44 mayors including the present mayor, Frederick F. Richardson. Among them have been soldiers, statesmen, jurists, business men, farmers, landed gentlemen, and lawyers. Azariah Dunham, appointed mayor in 1784 was the descendant of Edmund Dunham, the first male white child born in Middlesex County. The son of a clergyman and destined for the church, Azariah Dunham tricked fate and became a civil engineer, in which profession he earned a wide reputation and successive appointment to public office. Later Congressman Dunham was the first to hold the office of mayor under the first state charter although several colonial mayors had preceded him. He was later one of the members of the provincial Congress and a representative of the General Assembly. John Bayard, born in Maryland and a descendant of the Huguenots, succeeded Dunham. He had Inherited considerable wealth and went into business in Philadelphia in his early years. He served in the Colonial army, participating in the battle of Trenton. Bayard was a member of the Committee of Safely, speaker of the Pennsylvania Legislature, and a member of the Congress meeting in New York in 1785. On moving to New Brunswick in 1788, he built what was known as "Mansion House" on Albany street. Following his term as mayor, Bayard was judge of the Common Pleas Court. He was also ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church. Schureman Fourth. Major James Schureman, fourth mayor, was educated at Queen's College, now Rutgers University. On leaving school, he went into the Colonial army, in which he played a conspicuous role. He was captured but escaped to fight again. In 1786 he represented New Jersey at the Continental Congress. He was also elected to the provincial Congress of New Jersey and the first Congress of the United States. Elected to the United States Senate, he resigned to return to New Brunswick, where he entered business and later became mayor. He was in the House of Representatives again in 1813-1815 and is believed to have served in the War of 1812. Augustus R. Taylor, . son of a Queens College professor and student at that institution, became the sixth mayor in 1824. He had studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and set up in practice in New Brunswick. Taylor was the son-in-law of Colonel John Neilson. He was elected twice as mayor but did not live to complete his second term. Cornelius Low Hardenbergh, seventh mayor of New Brunswick. studied at Rutgers and later took the Bar examination and set up in practice in New Brunswick. Over work brought on blindness, but this did not end his innumerable activities. Besides his law practice, he engaged in various business pursuits, was president of a bank, a member of the State Legislature, and then mayor of New Brunswick. He was married three times. David M. Vail Next The ninth mayor of the city. David M. Vail, served in the State Legislature and was city recorder. E. Fitz Randolph Smith, eleventh mayor, was a physician, financier, gentleman farmer, and politician. These give some impression of the man's versatility. He studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and had an extensive practice in the city. He headed the State Medical Society for a time. William H. Leupp was a graduate of Columbia College, New York, and was admitted to the New Jersey Bar. He was state senator from Somerset, a member of the State Board of Education, and the twelfth mayor of New Brunswick. Another lawyer to become mayor was John Van Dyke, a descendant of a Dutch family from New York. He served two terms in Congress and is known as one of the early abolitionists. He was quite a fighter and a radical. Van Dyke is said to have nominated Abraham Lincoln at the Philadelphia convention of 1860. Martin A. Howell. Martin A. Howell, fifteenth mayor of New Brunswick, was educated at the Lancastrian School in this city. He was possessed with an avidity for learning and studied at night while clerking in a store during the day. In 1873 he erected the first factory in New Brunswick and the first wall paper plant in the country. He made a fortune and engaged in numerous business and financial enterprises. Howell held extensive interests in most of the business firms in New Brunswick He was elected mayor in 1847 and is known to have opposed extravagant expenditures. Dr. August, Fitz Randolph Taylor, a physician, next mayor, was the second to become blind. He was a Rutgers graduate and a member of the Medical Society of New Jersey. Taylor went west in the California gold rush and was president of the "Forty-Niners," an organization of men who had rushed to the California gold fields. David Fitz Randolph was a merchant and a director of the old Farmers and Mechanics Bank. He served as mayor between 1849-1851, Peter N. Wyckoff was a mason and a builder before he. became mayor in 1851 to succeed Randolph Hill Bank President John B. Hill started his career in the office of Colonel John Neil son, then president of the Camden and Amboy Railroad. He went to work as bookkeeper for a bank and rose to be president of it. He was for 10 years president of the National Bank of New Jersey. The nineteenth mayor, Abraham Voorhees Schenck, studied law, was admitted to the Bar, and became prosecutor of Middlesex County. He became state senator In 1882 and was elected president of the Sen ate in 1885. He was mayor for the year 1855-1856. Lyle Van Nuis was a carriage manufacturer and later president of the Dime Savings Bank. He was elected mayor at the outbreak of the Civil War and was twice reelected for widely separate terms John Bayard Kirkpatrick, twentieth mayor, was a graduate of Queens College and worked in the Treasury Department in Washington. Tunis V. D. Hoagland had a steam planing and flour mill on Spring alley and lived at the corner of Paterson street and Elm row. He became mayor following Kirkpatrick's resignation. Peter C. Onderdonk, an early New Brunswick industrialist, served as mayor between 1859-60. Ezekiel M. Paterson. coal dealer, lived on the corner of George street and Livingston avenue. He was the twenty-third mayor. Druggist Next Mayor. Richard McDonald was a druggist on the corner of Church and Peace streets, whose store later became Van Pelts. McDonald was mayor during the Civil War. Augustus T. Stout, coal dealer, was elected mayor in 1865, but died shortly after election. John T. Jenkins, mayor 1865-1867, was one of the most progressive mayors in the history of the city. He used his influence as mayor to help finance the first public schools. He was postmaster, and his postmaster's certificate, signed by Abraham Lincoln, is now at Rutgers University. Outside of public office he conducted a real estate and insurance office on George street. Miles Ross, engaged in the shipping and then the coal business, filled almost all of the city offices. In 1874 he was elected to Congress. He was mayor 1867-1869. Dr. George L. Janeway was a famous physician who went abroad to- study in the hospitals of France during; the cholera epidemic in Brunswick la 1847 and became may or in 1869. Conover a Tailor. Garret Conover was a tailor, real estate man, and bank director at different times in his career, He was mayor 1871-73. Thomas M. De Rusey was a gentleman farmer and a noted sportsman. He was mayor 1873-1875. Isaiah Rolfe, born in South Amboy, engaged in the lumber business in New Brunswick and became mayor in 1875. Dr. DeWitt Ten Broeck Reiley was a Rutgers professor of Latin, principal of a grammar school, and college librarian. He was mayor 1879-1881. William S. Strong, founder of the Strong Hardware Company, became the thirty-third mayor in 1881 and served continuously until 1889. He was active in the National Guard and served four terms aa chief of the fire department. James H. Van Cleef, member of the New Jersey Bar and State Assemblyman, became city attorney in 1877 and mayor in 1889. He also served a two year term in the State Senate. Physician Is Mayor. Dr. Nicholas Williamson was the fifth physician to become mayor of New Brunswick. He was connected with the Novelty Rubber Company and studied after business hours to become a doctor. He was mayor, 1895-1902. George A. Viehman, next mayor, studied law, became president of the Middlesex Title Guarantee and Trust Company, was president of the New Brunswick Fire Insurance Company and then the New Jersey Fire Insurance Company. Viehman was also director of the Federal Trust Company of Newark. During his administration the city underwent many physical changes such as improvement in streets and the elevation of the Pennsylvania Rail road track. He was influential in the erection of the Free Library on Livingston avenue. Dr. William S. Meyers studied extensively both hero and abroad and became associated with the State Agricultural College. In 1901 he was director of nitrate of soda propaganda for the United States and colonies. He wrote much on scientific agriculture and advised the Mexican government on plans for agricultural experimentation stations. Cooper 45th Mayor. Drury W. Cooper, graduate of Rutgers University and member of the Bar, became the thirty-eighth mayor of the city in 1906. William Edwin Florance studied law in the offices of former Judge J. Kearny Rice and Willard P. Voorhees. He became mayor in 1908 after serving In various other public offices. He was connected with the New Brunswick Mutual Fire Insurance Company and had affiliations with several banks. He was state senator 1916-1918. John J. Morrison, mayor 1910-1914 and reelected in 1918, was a grocer who later helped organize the Liberty Savings Bank. He held several city offices before becoming mayor. Dr. Austin Scott studied extensively abroad, taught at the University of Michigan, at Johns Hopkins University, and then at Rutgers. He was a prominent historian and popular lecturer on religious, social and educational themes. In 1890 he was elected president of Rutgers. He served as mayor 1914-1915. Edward F. Farrington, mayor of New Brunswick at 29, was the youngest man to ever fill that office. He served as city executive during the World War. Farrington Lake is named after him. The incumbent. Mayor Frederick F. Richardson, is mentioned in other columns.

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