List of mayors of Washington, D.C.

Former mayor Vincent Gray (right) was sworn-in on January 2, 2011 with his predecessor, Adrian Fenty (left).

The list of mayors of Washington, D.C. is a reflection of the changing structure of its local government. From 1846 to 1871, three separate municipalities were located within the District of Columbia and each was governed separately: the City of Washington, Georgetown, and unincorporated territory known as Washington County. With the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871, the three municipalities within the District of Columbia were abolished in favor of a single District government, whose chief executive was a territorial Governor. This office was abolished in 1874, and replaced with a three-member Board of Commissioners appointed by the President. This system existed until 1967, when it was replaced by a single mayor-commissioner and city council appointed by the President. Finally, in 1974, the District of Columbia Home Rule Act allowed for District residents to elect their own mayor.

Currently, the Mayor of the District of Columbia is popularly elected to a four-year term with no term limits. Even though Washington, DC is not a state, the city government also has certain state-level responsibilities, making some of the mayor's duties analogous to those of United States governors. The current mayor of Washington, D.C. is Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, who has served in the role since January 2, 2015.

The lists on this page include all of the chief executives of the District of Columbia in their various forms.

1802–1871: Mayors of the City of Washington

The persons listed below are the mayors of the now-defunct City of Washington, which was officially granted a formal government in 1802. The Mayor of Washington had authority over city services, appointments, and local tax assessments; however, the duties of the mayor mostly consisted of requesting appropriations from Congress to finance the city. From 1802 to 1812, the mayor was appointed by the President of the United States. Between 1812 and 1820, the city's mayors were then selected by a city council. From 1820 to 1871 the mayor was popularly elected. The present-day boundaries of the "Old City" were Rock Creek to the west, Florida Avenue to the north, and the Anacostia River to the east and south.

Image	Mayor[1]	Term Began	Term Ended
	Robert Brent	1802	1812
	Daniel Rapine	1812	1813
	James H. Blake	1813	1817
	Benjamin G. Orr	1817	1819
	Samuel N. Smallwood	1819	1822
	Thomas Carbery	1822	June 1824
	Samuel N. Smallwood	June 1824	September 30, 1824
	Roger C. Weightman	September 30, 1824	1827
	Joseph Gales	1827	1830
	John P. Van Ness	1830	1834
	William A. Bradley	1834	1836
	Peter Force	1836	1840
	William Winston Seaton	1840	1850
	Walter Lenox	1850	1852
	John W. Maury	1852	1854
	John T. Towers	1854	1856
	William B. Magruder	1856	1858
	James G. Berret	1858	August 26, 1861
	Richard Wallach	August 26, 1861	1868
	Sayles J. Bowen	1868	June 7, 1870
	Matthew G. Emery[2]	June 7, 1870	February 28, 1871

1790–1871: Mayors of Georgetown

Georgetown was a town in Maryland until 1801, when it became a municipality within the District of Columbia. From 1802 until 1871, mayors of Georgetown were elected to one-year terms, with no term limits.^[3] Like the City of Washington and Washington County, Georgetown's local government ceased to exist in 1871, when Congress merged the three entities into the single District government.^[4]

Mayor[1]	Term Began	Term Ended
Robert Peter	1790	1791
Thomas Beale	1791	1792
Uriah Forrest	1792	1793
John Threlkeld	1793	1794
Pedro Casenave	1794	1795
Thomas Turner	1795	1796
Daniel Reintzel	1796	1797
Lloyd Beall	1797	1799
Daniel Reintzel	1799	1804
Thomas Corcoran	1805	1806
Daniel Reintzel	1806	1807
Thomas Corcoran	1808	1810
David Wiley	1811	1812
Thomas Corcoran	1812	1813
John Peter	1813	1818
Henry Foxall	1819	1820
John Peter	1821	1822
John Cox	1823	1845
Henry Addison	1845	1857
Richard R. Crawford	1857	1861
Henry Addison	1861	1867
Charles D. Welch	1867	1869
Henry M. Sweeney	1869	1871

1871–1874: Governors of the District of Columbia

In 1871, Congress created a territorial government for the entire District of Columbia, which was headed by a governor appointed by the President of the United States to a four-year term. Due to alleged mismanagement and corruption, including allegations of contractors bribing members of the District legislature to receive contracts,^[5] the territorial government was discontinued in 1874.

#	Image	Governor[1]	Term Began	Term Ended
1		Henry D. Cooke	February 28, 1871	September 13, 1873
2		Alexander R. Shepherd[6]	September 13, 1873	June 20, 1874

1874–1967: Presidents of the Board of Commissioners

From 1874 to 1967, the District was administered by a three-member Board of Commissioners with both legislative and executive authority, all appointed by the President. The board comprised one Democrat, one Republican, and one civil engineer with no specified party. The three Commissioners would then elect one of their number to serve as president of the board. While not quite analogous to the role of a mayor, the president of the board was the city's Chief Executive.

Image	President[7]	Term Began	Term Ended	Political Party
	William Dennison[8]	July 1, 1874	July 1, 1878	Republican
	Seth Ledyard Phelps	July 1, 1878	November 29, 1879	Republican
	Josiah Dent	November 29, 1879	July 17, 1882	Democratic
	Joseph Rodman West	July 17, 1882	March 29, 1883	Republican
	James Barker Edmonds	March 29, 1883	January 1, 1886	Democratic
	William Benning Webb	January 1, 1886	May 21, 1889	None
	John Watkinson Douglass	May 21, 1889	March 1, 1893	None
	John Wesley Ross	March 1, 1893	June 1, 1898	Democratic
	John Brewer Wright	June 1, 1898	May 9, 1900	None
	Henry Brown Floyd MacFarland	May 9, 1900	January 24, 1910	Republican
	Cuno Hugo Rudolph	January 24, 1910	February 28, 1913	None
	Oliver Peck Newman	February 28, 1913	October 9, 1917	None
	Louis Brownlow	October 9, 1917	September 17, 1920	Democratic
	Colonel Charles Willauer Kutz (acting)	September 17, 1920	September 25, 1920	None
	John Thilman Hendrick	September 25, 1920	March 4, 1921	None
	Cuno Hugo Rudolph	March 15, 1921	December 4, 1926	None
	Proctor L. Dougherty	December 4, 1926	April 10, 1930	None
	Dr. Luther Halsey Reichelderfer	April 10, 1930	November 16, 1933	None
	Melvin Colvin Hazen	November 16, 1933	July 15, 1941	None
	John Russell Young	July 29, 1941	June 2, 1952	None
	F. Joseph Donohue	June 2, 1952	April 6, 1953	None
	Samuel Spencer	April 6, 1953	April 6, 1956	None
	Robert E. McLoughlin	April 6, 1956	July 27, 1961	None
	Walter Nathan Tobriner	July 27, 1961	November 7, 1967	Democratic

^[9]

1967–1975: Mayor-Commissioner

In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson presented to Congress a plan to reorganize the District's government.^[10] The three-commissioner system was replaced by a government headed by a single mayor-commissioner, an assistant mayor-commissioner, and a nine-member city council, all appointed by the president.^[10] The mayor-commissioner and his assistant served four-year terms,^[11] while the councilmembers served three-year terms.^[10] While the Council was officially nonpartisan, no more than six of Councilmembers could be of the same political party.^[11] Councilmembers were expected to work part-time.^[10] All councilmembers and either the mayor-commissioner or his assistant was required to have been a resident of the District of Columbia for the three years preceding appointment.^[11] All must be District residents while serving their terms in office.^[11]

Council members had the quasi-legislative powers of the former Board of Commissioners, approving the budget and setting real estate tax rates.^[10] The mayor-commissioner could, without any Congressional approval, consolidate District agencies and transfer money between agencies, powers that the preceding Board of Commissioners had not possessed since 1952.^[12] The mayor-commissioner could veto the actions of the Council, but the Council could override the veto with a three-fourths vote.^[10]

Despite a push by many Republicans and conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives to reject Johnson's plan, the House of Representatives accepted the new form of government for the District by a vote of 244 to 160.^[13] Johnson said that the new District government would be more effective and efficient.^[10]

Walter E. Washington was appointed the first mayor-commissioner, and Thomas W. Fletcher was appointed the first assistant mayor-commissioner.^[14] The first Council appointments were Chairman John W. Hechinger, Vice Chairman Walter E. Fauntroy, Stanley J. Anderson, Margaret A. Haywood, John A. Nevius, William S. Thompson, J.C. Turner, Polly Shackleton, and Joseph P. Yeldell.^[14]

#	Mayor-Commissioner [1]		Term start	Term end	Party
1		Walter Washington	November 7, 1967	January 2, 1975	Democratic

1975–present: Mayors of the District of Columbia

Since 1975, the District has been administered by a popularly elected mayor and city council.

Parties

      Democratic (8)

#	Mayor		Term of office	Party	Term	Previous office
1		Walter Washington (1915–2003)	January 2, 1975 – January 2, 1979	Democratic	1 (1974)	Mayor-Commissioner of the District of Columbia
2		Marion Barry (1936–2014)	January 2, 1979 – January 2, 1991	Democratic	2 (1978)	Member of the Council of the District of Columbia from the At-large district (1975–1979)
					3 (1982)
					4 (1986)
3		Sharon Pratt Kelly[15] (born 1944)	January 2, 1991 – January 2, 1995	Democratic	5 (1990)	Treasurer of the Democratic National Committee (1985–1989)
4		Marion Barry (1936–2014)	January 2, 1995 – January 2, 1999	Democratic	6 (1994)	Member of the Council of the District of Columbia from Ward 8 (1993–1995)
5		Anthony A. Williams (born 1951)	January 2, 1999 – January 2, 2007	Democratic	7 (1998)	D.C. Chief Financial Officer (1995–1998)
					8 (2002)
6		Adrian Fenty (born 1970)	January 2, 2007 – January 2, 2011	Democratic	9 (2006)	Member of the Council of the District of Columbia from Ward 4 (2001–2007)
7		Vincent C. Gray (born 1942)	January 2, 2011 – January 2, 2015	Democratic	10 (2010)	Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia (2007–2011)
8		Muriel Bowser (born 1972)	January 2, 2015 – Incumbent	Democratic	11 (2014)	Member of the Council of the District of Columbia from Ward 4 (2007–2015)

See also

• Timeline of Washington, D.C.

References

1. Larner, John B. (1920). "List of Principal Municipal Authorities of the Cities of Washington, Georgetown, and the District of Columbia". Records of the Columbia Historical Society 23: 180–7.
2. "Washington Election Yesterday". Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser (via Google News). June 7, 1870.
3. Ecker, Grace Dunlop (1933). A Portrait of Old Georgetown. Garrett & Massie. p. 8.
4. "New Government in Columbia". The New York Times. January 21, 1871.
5. "Bribes Paid by Contractors". The New York Times. March 29, 1974.
6. "The District of Columbia Governorship". The New York Times. September 13, 1873.
7. Gilmore, Matthew (July 2001). "Who were the Commissioners of the District, 1874–1967?". H-DC. Humanities & Social Sciences Online. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
8. "The New District Governors". The New York Times. Associated Press. June 30, 1874.
9. "DCPL: MLK: Washingtoniana Division: FAQs: DC Commissioners". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
10. Carper, Elsie (June 2, 1967). "Johnson Orders New D.C. Rule: Hill Has 60 Days To Act on Plan, But Can't Alter It". The Washington Post. p. A1.
11. "How the District Will Be Run Under Single Head, Council". The Washington Post. August 10, 1967. p. A1.
12. Kaiser, Robert G. (June 2, 1967). "Reorganization Plan Redistributes Current Powers". The Washington Post. p. A7.
13. Carper, Elsie; Milius, Peter (August 10, 1967). "House Accepts New D.C. Rule". The Washington Post. p. A1.
14. Asher, Robert L. (November 2, 1967). "Senate Confirms Council: White House Oath Taking Likely for 9". The Washington Post. p. A1.
15. Elected as "Sharon Pratt Dixon," but remarried in December 1991.

External links

• Official website
• Mayor of Washington, D.C. at the Wayback Machine (archived March 31, 2001)