Mayor of Boston

In Massachusetts, a town is typically governed by a town meeting, with a board of selectmen handling regular business. Boston was the first community in Massachusetts to receive a city charter, which was granted in 1822.^[2] Under the terms of the new charter, the mayor was elected annually. In June 1895, the charter was amended, and the mayor's term was increased to two years.^[3]

In 1909, the Republican-controlled state legislature enacted strong-mayor charter changes it hoped would dampen the rising power of Democratic Irish Americans.^[4] Adopted by public vote in the November 1909 general election, changes included extending the mayoral term to four years, and making the post formally non-partisan.^[5] The reforms did not have the intended effect; the first mayor elected under the new charter was Democrat John F. Fitzgerald ("Honey Fitz"), and every mayor since Republican Malcolm Nichols (1926–1930) has been known to be a Democrat.

In a bid to temper the rising power of James Michael Curley, the state legislature in 1918 passed legislation barring the Mayor of Boston from serving consecutive terms in office;^[6] Curley was prevented from running for re-election twice by this law (November 1925 and November 1933). The law was repealed in 1939,^[7] after Curley's political career appeared to be in decline.^[8]

Another charter change was enacted in 1949, partly in response to Curley's fourth term (1946–1950), during which he served prison time for crimes committed in an earlier term. Changes included adding a preliminary election to narrow the field to two mayoral candidates in advance of the general election, changing the Boston City Council from having 22 members (one from each city ward) to having nine members (elected at-large), and giving the council ability to override some mayoral vetoes.^[9] These changes went into effect in 1951, resulting in the first term of John B. Hynes being shortened to two years.

From 1951 through 1991, Boston mayoral elections were held the year before presidential elections (e.g. mayoral election in 1951, presidential election in 1952). Starting in 1993, due to the election held following Raymond Flynn's appointment as United States Ambassador to the Holy See, Boston mayoral elections are held the year following presidential elections (e.g. presidential election in 1992, mayoral election in 1993).

In June 2018, the Council voted to increase the salary of the mayor to $207,000, effective after the mayoral election of November 2021 (term starting in January 2022); this increased the salary of councillors to $103,500, effective after the council elections of November 2019 (terms starting in January 2020). In October 2022, the Council voted to increase the salary of the mayor to $250,000. ^[10][1]

There is no official count of Boston's mayors. The City of Boston does not number its mayors^[11] and numbering has been inconsistent over time. For example, Thomas Menino was referred to as the 47th mayor at the time he was sworn in,^[12] yet his successor, Marty Walsh, was identified as the 54th.^[13] The Walsh administration cited Wikipedia for its use of 54.^[13] That numbering scheme counted persons who served as elected mayors and counted those who served non-consecutive terms more than once; James Michael Curley served four non-consecutive terms and was counted four times.^[13][a] Kim Janey, who became acting mayor in March 2021, referred to herself as the 55th mayor.^[14]

Use of ( ) in the below table denotes non-consecutive terms for a mayor.

#	Mayor		Term		In office			Party
			Start	End	Terms won	Duration
1		John Phillips	May 1, 1822	May 1, 1823	1	1 year		Federalist
2		Josiah Quincy III	May 1, 1823	January 5, 1829	6	5 years, 8 months		Federalist
3		Harrison G. Otis	January 5, 1829	January 2, 1832	3	3 years		Federalist
4		Charles Wells	January 2, 1832	January 6, 1834	2	2 years		Whig
5		Theodore Lyman	January 6, 1834	January 4, 1836	2	2 years		Democratic
6		Samuel T. Armstrong	January 4, 1836	January 1, 1837	1	1 year		Whig
7		Samuel A. Eliot	January 1, 1837	January 6, 1840	3	3 years		Whig
8		Jonathan Chapman	January 6, 1840	January 2, 1843	3	3 years		Whig
9		Martin Brimmer	January 2, 1843	January 6, 1845	2	2 years		Whig
—		William Parker ‡	January 6, 1845	February 27, 1845	—	2 months		Whig
10		Thomas Aspinwall Davis †	February 27, 1845	November 22, 1845	1	9 months		Native AmericanKN
—		Benson Leavitt ‡	November 22, 1845	December 11, 1845	—	1 month		Whig
11		Josiah Quincy IV.	December 11, 1845	January 1, 1849	3	3 years, 1 month		Whig
12		John P. Bigelow	January 1, 1849	January 5, 1852	3	3 years		Whig
13		Benjamin Seaver	January 5, 1852	January 2, 1854	2	2 years		Whig
14		Jerome V. C. Smith	January 2, 1854	January 7, 1856	2	2 years		AmericanKN
15		Alexander H. Rice	January 7, 1856	January 4, 1858	2	2 years		Independent
16 (1)		Frederic W. Lincoln Jr.	January 4, 1858	January 7, 1861	3	3 years		Republican
17		Joseph Wightman	January 7, 1861	January 5, 1863	2	2 years		Democratic
18 (2)		Frederic W. Lincoln Jr.	January 5, 1863	January 7, 1867	4	4 years		Republican
19		Otis Norcross	January 7, 1867	January 6, 1868	1	1 year		Republican
20		Nathaniel B. Shurtleff	January 6, 1868	January 2, 1871	3	3 years		Democratic
21		William Gaston	January 2, 1871	January 6, 1873	2	2 years		Democratic
22 (1)		Henry L. Pierce	January 6, 1873	November 29, 1873	1	11 months		None
—		Leonard R. Cutter ‡	November 29, 1873	January 5, 1874	—	1 month		Democratic
23		Samuel C. Cobb	January 5, 1874	January 1, 1877	3	3 years		None
24 (1)		Frederick O. Prince	January 1, 1877	January 7, 1878	1	1 year		Democratic
25 (2)		Henry L. Pierce	January 7, 1878	January 6, 1879	1	1 year		Republican
26 (2)		Frederick O. Prince	January 6, 1879	January 2, 1882	3	3 years		Democratic
27		Samuel A. Green	January 2, 1882	January 1, 1883	1	1 year		Republican
28		Albert Palmer	January 1, 1883	January 7, 1884	1	1 year		Democratic
29		Augustus Pearl Martin	January 7, 1884	January 5, 1885	1	1 year		Republican
30		Hugh O'Brien	January 5, 1885	January 7, 1889	4	4 years		Democratic
31 (1)		Thomas N. Hart	January 7, 1889	December 31, 1890	2	2 years		Republican
32		Nathan Matthews Jr.	January 1, 1891	January 7, 1895	4	4 years		Democratic
33		Edwin Upton Curtis	January 7, 1895	January 6, 1896	1	1 year		Republican
	Mayoral term increased to two years.
34		Josiah Quincy	January 6, 1896	January 1, 1900	2	4 years		Democratic
35 (2)		Thomas N. Hart	January 1, 1900	January 6, 1902	1	2 years		Republican
36		Patrick Collins †	January 6, 1902	September 13, 1905	2	3 years, 9 months		Democratic
—		Daniel A. Whelton ‡	September 15, 1905	January 1, 1906	—	3 months		Democratic
37 (1)		John F. Fitzgerald	January 1, 1906	January 6, 1908	1	2 years		Democratic
38		George A. Hibbard	January 6, 1908	February 7, 1910	1	2 years		Republican
	Mayoral term increased to four years.
39 (2)		John F. Fitzgerald	February 7, 1910	February 2, 1914	1	4 years		Democratic
40 (1)		James Michael Curley	February 2, 1914	February 4, 1918	1	4 years		Democratic
41		Andrew J. Peters	February 4, 1918	February 6, 1922	1	4 years		Democratic
42 (2)		James Michael Curley	February 6, 1922	January 4, 1926	1	4 years		Democratic
43		Malcolm Nichols	January 4, 1926	January 6, 1930	1	4 years		Republican
44 (3)		James Michael Curley	January 6, 1930	January 1, 1934	1	4 years		Democratic
45		Frederick Mansfield	January 1, 1934	January 3, 1938	1	4 years		Democratic
46		Maurice J. Tobin	January 3, 1938	January 4, 1945	2	7 years		Democratic
—		John E. Kerrigan ‡	January 4, 1945	January 7, 1946	—	1 year		Democratic
47 (4)		James Michael Curley	January 7, 1946	January 2, 1950	1	4 years		Democratic
48		John B. Hynes	January 2, 1950	January 4, 1960	3	10 years		Democratic
49		John F. Collins	January 4, 1960	January 1, 1968	2	8 years		Democratic
50		Kevin White	January 1, 1968	January 2, 1984	4	16 years		Democratic
51		Raymond Flynn	January 2, 1984	July 12, 1993	3	9 years, 6 months		Democratic
52		Thomas Menino	July 12, 1993	January 6, 2014	5	20 years, 6 months		Democratic
53		Marty Walsh	January 6, 2014	March 22, 2021	2	7 years, 2 months		Democratic
—		Kim Janey ‡	March 22, 2021	November 16, 2021	—	8 months		Democratic
54		Michelle Wu	November 16, 2021	Incumbent	1	1 year, 2 months		Democratic

† died in office
‡ acting mayor only
^KN Native American Party and American Party were formal names of the "Know Nothing" movement.

Boston's city charter stipulates that the City Council President serves as acting mayor whenever the mayor is absent from the city, unable to serve, or the office is vacant. An acting mayor cannot make permanent appointments, and can only perform urgent tasks "not admitting of delay" (which is somewhat open to interpretation).^[15]

The following individuals served as acting mayor during a vacancy in the office.

• Timeline of Boston
• List of elections in Massachusetts
• List of members of the Boston City Council
• List of mayors of Roxbury, Massachusetts
• List of mayors of Charlestown, Massachusetts
• List of mayors of the 50 largest cities in the United States

• Allison, Robert; Bulger, William (2011). James Michael Curley. Applewood Books. ISBN 9781933212753.
• O'Neill, Gerard (2012). Rogues and Redeemers. New York: Crown Publisher. ISBN 9780307405364.

• State Street Trust Company (1914). Mayors of Boston: Illustrated Epitome of Who the Mayors Have Been and What They Have Done. Boston: Walter Advertising and Printing – via Google Books.
• Child, Christopher C. (February 22, 2021). "Mayors of Boston". americanancestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mayors of Boston.

• Lists of Mayors of Boston at The Political Graveyard