List of mayors of New Haven, Connecticut

Mayor of New Haven, Connecticut
since 2020
TypeMayor
Formation1784
First holderRoger Sherman
Salary$134,013

This is a list of the mayors of New Haven, Connecticut.

Before 1826, the city's mayors did not have a fixed term of office; once elected, they held office indefinitely, at the pleasure of the Connecticut General Assembly. Beginning in 1826 the mayor and members of the Common Council were elected an annual town meeting and held office until the following year's town meeting. Since the 1870s, New Haven's mayors have been elected to two-year terms.[1]

As of July 2023, the Mayor of New Haven earns an annual salary of $134,013.[2]

Years
served 		Name Party Lived Notes
1784–1793 Roger Sherman Federalist 1721–1793 Signer of the Declaration of Independence. Later became a U.S. Senator.
1793–1803 Samuel Bishop Democratic-Republican 1723–1803 Also probate judge
1803–1822 Elizur Goodrich Federalist 1761–1849 Professor of law. Also served as a U.S. Congressman.
1822–1826 George Hoadley Democratic-Republican 1781–1857 Bank president. Later became Mayor of Cleveland (1846–1847).
1826–1827 Simeon Baldwin Federalist 1761–1851 Judge. Was previously a U.S. Congressman.
1827–1828 William Bristol Democratic-Republican 1779–1836 Also State Senator
1828–1830 David Daggett Federalist 1764–1851 Also U.S. Senator; CT House Speaker; Chief Justice of the CT Supreme Court
1830–1831 Ralph Ingersoll Democrat 1789-1872 Also U.S. Congressman
1831–1832 Dennis Kimberly Democrat 1790–1862 Lawyer. Also major general and member of Connecticut General Assembly. Was elected mayor again in 1833, but declined the office. Was chosen U.S. Senator in 1838.[3]
1832–1833 Ebenezer Seeley Democrat 1793–1866
1833–1834 Noyes Darling Whig 1782–1846 Judge. (Dennis Kimberly had been elected to fill this term, but declined to serve.)
1834–1839 Henry Collins Flagg Whig 1792–1863 Lawyer, editor
1839–1842 Samuel Johnson Hitchcock Whig 1786–1845 Lawyer, president of Yale Law School
1842–1845 Philip S. Galpin Whig 1796–1872 Businessman (carpet manufacturing and insurance)
1846–1850 Henry E. Peck Whig 1795–1867

Newspaper printer and publisher.[1]

1850–1854 Aaron N. Skinner Whig 1800–1858 Classical boarding school headmaster
1854–1855 Chauncey Jerome Whig 1793–1868 Clock manufacturer
1855-1856 Alfred Blackman Democrat 1807-1880 [4]
1856–1860 Philip S. Galpin Whig 1796–1872 Secretary of Mutual Security Insurance Company
1860–1863 Harmanus M. Welch Democrat 1813–1889 Businessman who was founder and president of the New Haven Rolling Mill and president of the First National Bank.
1863-1865 Morris Tyler Republican 1806–1876 [4]
1865–1866 Erastus C. Scranton Republican 1808–1866 [4]
1866–1869 Lucien Wells Sperry Democrat 1820−1890 Carpenter and merchant; committed suicide after embezzling trust funds; died $50,000 in debt.
1869-1870 William Fitch Republican 1820-1877 [4]
1870-1877 Henry G. Lewis Democrat 1820-1891 [4][5]
1877-1879 William R. Shelton Democrat 1821-1892 Prosecuted by Republicans (as a Democratic ex-mayor) for his involvement in a scandal with a female employee[6][4]
1879-1881 Hobart B. Bigelow Republican 1834–1891 Businessman, founder of the Bigelow Manufacturing Co.
1881-1883 John Brownlee Robertson Democrat 1809-1892 [4]
1883-1885 Henry G. Lewis Democrat 1820-1891 [4][5]
1885-1887 George F. Holcomb Democrat [4]
1887–1888 Samuel Amos York Democrat 1839-1898
1889–1890 Henry Franklin Peck Republican 1828-1911
1891–1894 Joseph B. Sargent Democrat 1822–1907 Served three terms. Founder of Sargent & Co.
1895–1896 Albert C. Hendrick Republican 1833-1912 ex-chief of the New Haven Fire Department
1897–1899 Frederick Benjamin Farnsworth Republican 1851-1930 Presided over the enactment of a new city charter, which gave New Haven a unified administrative structure. Interred in Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven
1899–1901 Cornelius Thomas Driscoll Democrat 1845–1931 born in Ireland, he was New Haven's first immigrant mayor
1901-1909 John Payne Studley Republican 1846–1931 Used the police to stop performances of Bernard Shaw's play, "Mrs. Warren's Profession". Interred in Evergreen Cemetery, New Haven, CT
1910–1917 Frank J. Rice Republican 1869–1917 Elected to four terms. Died in office.
1917 Samuel Campner Republican 1887-1934 New Haven's first Jewish mayor
1918–1926 David E. FitzGerald Democrat 1874-1942
1926-1928 John B. Tower Republican
1929–1931 Thomas A. Tully Republican 1886-1950
1932–1944 John W. Murphy Democrat 1878–1964 Labor leader
1945–1953 William C. Celentano Republican 1904-1972 Served eight years. First Italian-American mayor of New Haven, funeral director.
1954–1970 Richard C. Lee Democrat 1916–2003 Served eight terms. Was New Haven's youngest mayor.
1970–1975 Bartholomew F. Guida Democrat 1914–1978
1976–1979 Frank Logue Democrat 1924–2010 Served two two-year terms as the city's chief executive. He won the office in the 1975 election, defeating incumbent Democratic mayor Bart Guida in a party primary.
1980–1989 Biagio "Ben" DiLieto Democrat 1922–1999 Served five terms. Former police chief.
1990–1993 John C. Daniels Democrat 1936–2015 First black mayor of New Haven.
1994–2013 John DeStefano, Jr. Democrat born 1955 New Haven's longest-serving mayor.
2014–2020 Toni Harp Democrat born 1949 First woman elected mayor and 2nd African American mayor of New Haven.
2020–present Justin Elicker Democrat born 1975
  1. ^ Robert A. Dahl (1961), Who Governs?: Democracy and Power in an American City. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-00051-0, ISBN 978-0-300-00051-1. Page 12.
  2. ^ Gurciullo, Brianna (10 July 2023). "Salaries for CT mayors, top municipal officials are all over the map, so we mapped them". Stamford advocate. Stamford advocate. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  3. ^ Dennis Kimberly Archived 2011-11-05 at the Wayback Machine, Memorials of Connecticut Judges and Attorneys as printed in the Connecticut Reports volume 30, page(s) 605-607. Connecticut State Library website, accessed August 3, 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i New Haven (Conn.) (1885). City Year Book for the City of New Haven ...: Containing Lists of the Officers of the City Government; Address of His Honor the Mayor; Annual Reports of City Departments and Other Public Documents ... p. 380.
  5. ^ a b "Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Academical Year ending in June, 1892" (PDF). Yale University. p. 131. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Ex-Mayor Shelton's Trouble" (PDF). The New York Times. 14 November 1881. Retrieved 3 May 2018.