Samuel George King
73rd Mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
In office
April 4, 1881 – April 7, 1887
Preceded byWilliam S. Stokley
Succeeded byWilliam Burns Smith
Personal details
Born(1816-05-02)May 2, 1816
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedMarch 21, 1899(1899-03-21) (aged 82)
Resting placeLaurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic

Samuel George King (May 2, 1816 – March 21, 1899) was an American politician who served as the 73rd mayor of Philadelphia from 1881 to 1884. He was a member of the Democratic Party and was the last Democrat elected as mayor of Philadelphia until 1952.

Biography

King was born on May 2, 1816, in Philadelphia. In 1881, as a member of the Select Council, he ran for the mayoralty of Philadelphia against three-term incumbent William S. Stokley. The Philadelphia Republican establishment had not accepted Stokley as one of their own and prominent reformists such as Rudolph Blankenburg opposed Stokley for corruption.[1]

After the influential Committee of One Hundred voted to endorse Stokley, Blankenburg and John Paul Verree resigned their memberships.[2] The Committee reversed itself and endorsed King in the election. He defeated Stokley by a margin of nearly 5,800 votes.

King initiated a program to develop "river baths". Three were implemented in Philadelphia, two on the Delaware River and one on the Schuykill River, next to the poorest neighborhoods in an attempt to improve city health by enabling city residents to bathe regularly.[3] He also appointed the first black officers to serve in the Philadelphia Police Department.[4]

In 1884, King ran for a second term, but Republican William Burns Smith defeated him by more than 9,000 votes.[5]

King was the last Democrat to hold the office of Mayor of Philadelphia until Joseph Clark was elected in 1952.[6]

King died on March 21, 1899, and is buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery.

References

  1. ↑ Silcox, Harry (1989). Philadelphia Politics from the Bottom Up: The Life of Irishman William McMullen, 1824-1901. p. 98. ISBN 9780944190012.
  2. ↑ McCaffery, Peter (2010-11-01). When Bosses Ruled Philadelphia: The Emergence of the Republican Machine, 1867-1933. p. 68. ISBN 978-0271040578.
  3. ↑ Wiltse, Jeff (2007). Contested Waters - A Social History of Swimming Pools in America. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-8078-3100-7. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  4. ↑ Kooi, Brandon (2022). Seven Highly Effective Police Leaders: 1895 - Modern Times. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-4987-6892-4. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  5. ↑ "Mayors of the City of Philadelphia". City of Philadelphia. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  6. ↑ Goodtimes, Johnny. "Worst 18th-Century Job: Philadelphia Mayor". www.phillymag.com. Metro Corp. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
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