Mayors of Fort Wayne

July 5, 2018 post by City of Fort Wayne Government on Facebook:

Thursday Trivia: Can you name the first mayor of Fort Wayne?

Answer: Fort Wayne Mayors #tbt

Also on July 5, 2018 on Fort Wayne, Indiana on Twitter.

Fort Wayne, Indiana Mayors, Postmasters, U.S. Land Office officials on PoliticalGraveyard.com.

Allen County Community Album photo
Mayor of Fort Wayne 1885-1917
Allen County Community Album photo

Mayors of Fort Wayne 1885 to 1917: composite of portrait photographs of Charles F. Muhler, Daniel L. Harding, Henry P. Scherer, Chauncey B. Oakley, Henry C. Berghoff, Jesse Grice, William J. Hosey. Reproduced from a printed source. Original rather dark. at the Allen County Community Album.

 

Fort Wayne's Mayors 20-page paper, Borne Timothy S-24 Jan 2003-0001 in the Quest Club Papers at the Allen County Public Library

Wikipedia list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mayors_of_Fort_Wayne,_Indiana

  1. City of Fort Wayne
    1. Meet the Mayor
    2. Fort Wayne Mayors since 1940
  2. George W. Wood 1840 photo March 22, 2014 on the original Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana page on Facebook.
  3. Joseph Morgan 1841 & 1942
  4. Henry Lotz 1843
  5. John M. Wallace 1844
  6. Dr. Merchant W. Huxford 1845 - 1849
  7. William Stewart 1849 - 1852, 1855 - 1857
  8. Dr. Philip G. Jones 1852
  9. Charles Whitmore 1853 & 1854
  10. Samuel S. Morss 1857 - 1859
  11. Franklin P. Randall 1859 - 1864, 1869 - 1873
  12. Judge James L. Worden 1865
  13. Benjamin Saunders 1866
  14. Henry Sharp 1867 & 1868
  15. Col. Charles Zollinger 1873 - 1885, 1893, a democrat was elected to six successive two-year terms. In 1891, after being out of office for six years, he was elected mayor for a seventh time. Zollinger’s seventh term was for three years, but he died in office in late December of 1893. At the time of his death, Zollinger had served as Fort Wayne’s mayor for more than 14 years. Copied from Media, Henry wrong on mayoral facts by G. Stanley Hood in Letters published Janaury 16, 2015 in The Journal Gazette newspaper. See also Colonel Charles A. Zollinger: seven-time mayor of Fort Wayne (1956)on Archive.org.
  16. Charles F. Muhler 1885 - 1889
  17. Daniel L. Harding 1889 - 1893
  18. Henry F. Scherer 1894, 1897 - 1901
  19. Chauncey B. Oakley 1894 - 1897
    Annual message of ... , mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind. with annual reports of heads of departments of the city government for the fiscal year ending .. (Volume yr.1895) - Fort Wayne (Ind.) on Archive.org
    Annual message of ... , mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind. with annual reports of heads of departments of the city government for the fiscal year ending ...(1896) - Fort Wayne (Ind.) on Archive.org
  20. Henry F. Scherer 1894, 1897 - 1901
    Annual message of ... , mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind. with annual reports of heads of departments of the city government for the fiscal year ending .. (Volume yr.1898) - Fort Wayne (Ind.) and a second copy on Archive.org
  21. Henry C. Berghoff 1901 - 1905
    Annual message of ... , mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind. with annual reports of heads of departments of the city government for the fiscal year ending .. (Volume yr.1901) - Fort Wayne (Ind.) on Archive.org
    Annual message of ... [the] Mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana: with annual ...(1902) - Fort Wayne (Ind.) on Archive.org
    Annual message of ... , mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind. with annual reports of heads of departments of the city government for the fiscal year ending (1905) on Archive.org
  22. William J. Hosey 1906 - 1910
    Annual message of ... , mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind. with annual reports of heads of departments of the city government for the fiscal year ending .. by Fort Wayne (Ind.) Publication date 1906
  23. Jesse Grice 1910-1914 Jesse A. Grice; sheriff and mayor, 1852-1915 - Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County, sheriff 1904-1908, mayor 1910-1914 on Archive.org
  24. William J. Hosey 1914 - 1918
  25. Sherman Cutshall 1918-1922
  26. William J. Hosey 1922-1926
  27. William C. Geake 1926 - 1930
  28. William J. Hosey 1930-1934
  29. Harry W. Baals 1934 - 1947, frequently and erroneously accredited as Fort Wayne’s longest-serving mayor, he served 15 years when he died in office in May of 1954.
  30. Henry Branning 1948 - 1951
  31. Harry W. Baals 1952-5/9/1954
  32. Robert Meyers 1954 - 1959
  33. Paul Mike Burns 1960 - 1963
  34. Harold S. Zeis 1964 - 1971
  35. Ivan Lebamoff 1972 - 1975
  36. Robert Armstrong 1976 - 1979
  37. Winfield Moses 1980 - 1985
  38. Cosette Simon 7/8/1985-7/19/1985. April 21, 2024 post on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook from Randy Harter, Fort Wayne historian and author Fort Wayne Legendary Locals: Cosette R. Simon – A director of the Fort Wayne YWCA, Simon later worked for Evan Bayh when he was governor and US senator. In 1985, when she was city comptroller, Democratic mayor Win Moses resigned his office and plead guilty to a misdemeanor to settle a financial reporter error in his reelection campaign. Simon famously was appointed Fort Wayne’s first female mayor, on an interim basis. When Democratic precinct committee persons reelected Moses 11 days later, Simon completed the city’s shortest mayoral term ever. She later became a Lincoln National executive and then joined SwissRe; she opened the Washington, DC, office and became senior vice president of government relations and public policy. Cosette Renee "Cosy" Simon on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
  39. Winfield Moses 7/20/1985 1987
  40. Paul Helmke 1988 - 1999
  41. Graham Richard 2000 -2007
  42. Tom Henry 2008 - 2011, 2016, 2020, 2024-March 28, 2024. See separate page Mayor Tom Henry.
    1. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mayortomhenry
    2. Mayor Henry Podcast has over 100 podcasts on various local topics on Spotify.
    3. The last mayor to win three straight terms was Paul Helmke, a Republican who served from 1988 through 1999. Henry is the first Democrat to win a third straight term as mayor and first Democrat to serve a third term as mayor since Charles Zollinger 1873 to 1885. Read more Henry wins 3rd straight term by Dave Gong published November 4, 2015 in The Journal Gazette newspaper now on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
    4. Henry wins fourth term as Fort Wayne mayor, Darrin Wright, November 6, 20190 on WOWO.

    5. November 7, 2023 post by The Journal Gazette on Facebook:

      Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry, a Democrat, has defeated Republican Tom Didier to win a fifth term as Fort Wayne mayor.

      Henry wins 5th term as Fort Wayne mayor

  43. Sharon Tucker April 20, 2024 - present, the first graduate of East Allen County Schools to be Mayor of Fort Wayne.

Back to top

Page updated: