List of mayors of Pittsburgh

This a listing of past (and present) mayors (burgesses and recorders when noted) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.

Mayor	Term	Party	Notes
George Robinson (Pittsburgh)	1794–c. 1800		"Chief Burgess" of Borough of Pittsburgh, Arrested by President George Washington for rebel activity during the Whiskey Rebellion
John Park (Pittsburgh)	1800–1801		"Chief Burgess" of Borough of Pittsburgh
Dr. George Stevenson	1801–1802		"Chief Burgess" of Borough of Pittsburgh
Isaac Craig	1802–1803	Federalist	"Chief Burgess" of Borough of Pittsburgh
James O'Hara	1803–1804	Federalist	"Chief Burgess" of Borough of Pittsburgh, formerly 6th Quartermaster General of the United States Army and Revolutionary War veteran.
General Pressley Neville	1804–1805		"Chief Burgess" of Borough of Pittsburgh, Revolutionary War veteran.
General John Wilkins	c. 1805–c. 1812		"Chief Burgess" of Borough of Pittsburgh, formerly 7th and last Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army
William Steele (Pittsburgh)	1812–1813		"Chief Burgess" of Borough of Pittsburgh
Ebenezer Denny	1816–1817		First "appointed" Mayor after city charter, resigned from office with health concerns, Revolutionary War veteran.
John Darragh	1817–1825		Appointed by City Council, formerly president of the bank of Pittsburgh.
John M. Snowden	1825–1828		Appointed by City Council, formerly president of the bank of Pittsburgh and county treasurer.
Magnus Miller Murray	1828–1830		Appointed by City Council
Matthew B. Lowrie	1830–1831	Anti-Masonic, Anti-Jackson	Appointed by City Council, brother was a U.S. Senator and son became Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Magnus Miller Murray	1831–1832		Appointed by City Council
Samuel Pettigrew	1832–1836		Appointed by City Council, later won the first mayoral election
Dr. Jonas R. McClintock	1836–1839	Democrat	Elected mayor at the age of 28, became the first man to assume the office from a general election. Later led a Union company in the American Civil War.
William Little	1839–1840
William W. Irwin	1840–1841	Whig	Elected to congress and appointed United States Ambassador to Denmark after leaving office.
James Thomson	1841–1842
Alexander Hay	1842–1845		After office he was commander in the Mexican War, and Captain in the Civil War.
William J. Howard	1845–1846		Long time president of the "Guardians of the Poor", forerunner of the Salvation Army
Dr. William Kerr	1846–1847
Gabriel Adams	1847–1849		After office was appointed state judge
John Herron	1849–1850		Before office was a captain in the Mexican War, hero of the Siege of Veracruz.
Joseph Barker	1850–1851	Anti-Catholic	Elected while serving a year in jail after protesting against the Catholic Church. He was illiterate but popular during a xenophobic time in the US. He is probably the only elected leader in world history to meet his death by "train decapitation".
John B. Guthrie	1851–1853		Father of future mayor George Guthrie, served in Mexican War, was the long time Customs Collector for Pittsburgh
Robert M. Riddle	1853–1854	Republican	Formerly Postmaster of Pittsburgh, oversaw Cholera epidemic response
Ferdinand E. Volz	1854–1856
William Bingham	1856–1857	Republican
Henry A. Weaver	1857–1860		After office served as U.S. Collector of Revenue for Pittsburgh
George Wilson	1860–1862		Formerly Pittsburgh Public Schools Director
Benair C. Sawyer	1862–1864		After office moved to Colorado then to California making a fortune in mining
James Lowry, Jr.	1864–1866
William C. McCarthy	1866–1868		Formerly a legend as a City fire fighter and commander, during administration ended the police practice of assuring "All is Well" on the hour, later served as city controller.
James Blackmore	1868–1869		Formerly Chief Clerk of City
Jared M. Brush	1869–1872		Formerly city councilor, served as a minister during the Civil War.
James Blackmore	1872–1875		Formerly Chief Clerk of City
William C. McCarthy	1875–1878		Formerly a legend as a Pittsburgh Fire Fighter and commander, during administration ended the police practice of assuring "All is Well" on the hour, later served as city controller.
Robert Liddell	1878–1881		Before and after office was a brewer and liquor dealer.
Robert W. Lyon	1881–1884		Earned two Purple Hearts in the Civil War, oil businessman before being elected, worked in a steel mill after leaving office.
Andrew "Andy" Fulton	1884–1887		Former city councilman; temporarily retired to breed horses in Colorado; later served as county director of the Division of Weights and Measures
William McCallin	1887–1890		Former County Coroner and County Sherriff
Henry I. Gourley	1890–1893		Former city councilman; became city clerk after office
Bernard J. McKenna	1893–1896		Former city councilman and firefighter
Henry P. Ford	1896–1899		Industrialist, with interests in knife manufacturing.
William J. Diehl	1899–1901	Republican	Former Deputy Sheriff; impeached on corruption charges
Adam M. Brown	1901		Former Court of Common Pleas judge; California Gold Rush speculator; earned the nickname of "Major" due to his military service
Joseph O. Brown	1901–1903		Former Allegheny County Prothonotary and city Director of Public Safety; died in office of a heart attack
William B. Hayes	1903–1906	Citizens Party (United States)	Industrialst, with interests in coal and lumber
George W. Guthrie	1906–1909	Democrat	Attorney; son of former mayor John Guthrie; served as United States Ambassador to Japan after office.
William A. Magee	1909–1914	Republican	Former Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney and city councilman
Joseph G. Armstrong	1914–1918	Republican	Former city councilman and Allegheny County Coroner; nicknamed "Joe the Builder" for his extensive public works projects
Edward V. Babcock	1918–1922	Republican	Formerly city councilman; later served as Allegheny County Commissioner; personally purchased 4,000 acres (16 km2) for county parklands. Purchased thousands of acres of south Florida timberland, estate sold to the state for conservation in the 1990s.
William A. Magee	1922–1926	Republican	Former City Council President
Charles H. Kline	1926–1933	Republican	Former State Representative and State Senator; convicted in 1932 by jury on 49 counts of corruption, but charges later overturned on appeal; resigned due to party pressure over corruption charges
John S. Herron	1933–1934	Republican	Former City Council President
William N. McNair	1934–1936	Democrat	Idealistic attorney; commended for his honesty, but criticized for his inability to get along with city council or the bureaucracy; arrested in 1935 for failing to authorize the return of a fine to an illegal gambler whose conviction had been overturned; resigned due to political infighting and pressure from state party chairman David Lawrence
Cornelius D. "Conn" Scully	1936–1946	Democrat	Former City Council President; had his driver's license suspended for three months in 1943 for violating wartime gasoline rationing requirements
David L. Lawrence	1946–1959	Democrat	Named one of the all-time 50 greatest American mayors; elected Governor in 1958; had political career nearly ruined because of indictment over kickbacks in coal contracts, but was acquitted by grand jury; former Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman, Secretary of the Commonwealth, and U.S. Collector of Revenue; considered a "king maker" by Democratic Party Conventions due to his crafting of compromise candidates of U.S. Presidents Truman and the Kennedy/Johnson tickets.
Thomas J. "Tom" Gallagher	1959	Democrat	Former State Representative and City Council President; became mayor at age 75
Joseph M. "Joe" Barr	1959–1970	Democrat	Former State Senator
Peter F. "Pete" Flaherty	1970–1977	"Fusion" Democrat nominated by both parties	Former city councilman; resigned after he was appoitned Deputy U.S. Attorney General by President Jimmy Carter; Democratic nominee for Governor in 1978, and for U.S. Senate in 1974 and 1980, losing all three races by close margins
Richard S. Caliguiri	1977–1988	Independent/Democrat	Former City Council President; won 1978 election as an independent, after initially deciding not to run due to a lack of support from party leaders; died in office from amyloidosis
Sophie F. Masloff	1988–1994	Democrat	Former City Council President; began her career in Pittsburgh politics as a City Hall secretary in 1929 at age 18
Thomas J. "Tom" Murphy, Jr.	1994–2006	Democrat	Former State Representative; was investigated by the U.S. Attorney and forced to sign non-indictment agreement stemming from allegations that the city's firefighters' union was exempted from citywide pay cuts in exchange for electoral support
Robert E. "Bob" O'Connor, Jr.	2006	Democrat	Former City Council President; died in office from a brain tumor.
Luke R. Ravenstahl	2006–present	Democrat	Former City Council President; became mayor at age 26, making him the youngest mayor of a top 100 city.

Source

• Office of Prothonotary; Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
• Historic Pittsburgh Collection
• Political Graveyard: Pittsburgh

External links

• Mayors in crisis through history
• Pittsburgh mayoral election results