List of mayors of Birmingham, Alabama

This is a list of mayors, or persons holding the equivalent office, of Birmingham, Alabama.

The office of mayor was established with the incorporation of Birmingham in 1871. Robert Henley was appointed by Governor, Robert B. Lindsay to a two-year term. Until 1910, the Mayor presided over an ever-expanding Board of Aldermen who generally campaigned on the same ticket. Progressive reformers lobbied for a change in the form of government that year, resulting in the creation of a five-member Board of Commissioners (later reduced to three members). The President of the Commission, though not formally holding the title, was widely acknowledged as "Mayor" under that system.^[1]

In 1963, as part of another progressive effort, this time to unseat Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor, the form of government was again changed by referendum. Reorganized under Alabama's Mayor Council Act of 1955, the city government consisted of a mayor and nine at-large City Council representatives. Changing demographics in the city's electorate led to the election of Birmingham's first African-American mayor, Richard Arrington Jr., in 1979.^[2][3]

In 1989 a change was made to elect council members by district, with 4-year terms coming at the midpoint of the mayoral term (allowing sitting council members to campaign for the mayoral office without having to resign their seats).^[4]

List

• Robert Henley, (mayor 1871–1872)
  • W. J. McDonald (acting mayor after Henley's death 1872)
  • Thomas Tate (interim mayor 1872)
• James Robert Powell, (mayor 1873–1875)
• William Harrington Morris, (mayor 1875–1878)
• Henry M. Caldwell, (mayor 1878)
• Thomas Jeffers, (mayor 1878–1882)
• A. O. Lane, (mayor 1882–1888, 1890–1892)
• B. A. Thompson, (mayor 1888–1890)
• David J. Fox, (mayor 1892–1894)
• James A. Van Hoose, (mayor 1894–1896)
• Frank V. Evans, (mayor 1896–1899)
• Mel Drennen, (mayor 1899–1905)
• George B. Ward, (mayor 1905–1908, President of the Commission 1913–1917)
• Frank P. O'Brien, (mayor 1908–1910)
• Culpepper Exum, (mayor 1910–1913, President of the Commission 1913)
• Nathaniel A. Barrett, (President of the Commission 1917–1921)
• David E. McClendon, (President of the Commission 1921–1925)
• James M. Jones, Jr., (President of the Commission 1925–1940)
• Cooper Green, (President of the Commission 1940–1953)
• James W. Morgan, (President of the Commission 1953–1961)
• Art Hanes, (President of the Commission 1961–1963)
• Albert Boutwell, (mayor 1963–1967)
• George G. Siebels, Jr., (mayor 1967–1975)
• David Vann, (mayor 1975–1979)
• Richard Arrington Jr., (mayor 1979–1999)
  • William A. Bell, (interim mayor 1999)
• Bernard Kincaid, (mayor 1999–2007)
• Larry Langford, (mayor 2007–2009)
  • Carole Smitherman, (acting mayor October–November 2009)
  • Roderick Royal, (acting mayor November 2009 – January 2010)
• William A. Bell, (mayor January 2010 – present)

See also

• Timeline of Birmingham, Alabama

References

1. Harris, Carl V. (1977) Political Power in Birmingham, 1871-1921. Twentieth-Century America Series. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 0-87049-211-X
2. Casey, Ron (1979) "The Election of Birmingham's Black Mayor" Southern Changes: The Journal of the Southern Regional Council. Vol. 2, No. 3
3. Franklin, Jimmie Lewis (1989) Back to Birmingham: Richard Arrington, Jr., and His Times. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0435-5
4. Haeberle, Steven H. (1997) "Exploring the Effects of Single-Member Districts on an Urban Political System." Urban Affairs Review. Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 287-97

External links

• City of Birmingham, Alabama official website
• Mayor of Birmingham at Bhamwiki.com