Past Mayors of Athens

History of the Mayor's Office

Complied by Robert L. Daniel

Since the office of mayor was created in 1828, forty-one persons have occupied the office. Joseph Dana, the first mayor, was a lawyer, though he long taught the foreign languages at Ohio University. Over the years, others with an Ohio University connection also served: John Brown 2d, William Herbert, Donald Barrett, Edwward Beckett, and Sara Hendricker. Joseph Dana and his son, Joseph M. Dana, were the only father and son to hold the office. A number of the mayors were attorneys: Joseph Dana, Joseph M. Dana, Emmett Tompkins, James Perry Wood, Charles H. Mintun, Oliver F. Rowland and Leander A. Koons. Most mayors were businessmen.

In the early years the mayor was elected a year at a time. While some early mayors such as John Gillmore and Isaac N. Norton held office but a single term, others, notably John Brown 2d, Norman Root, and Samuel Miller leap-frogged, taking turns in office from 1839 to 1864.

Emmett Tompkins, having served as mayor for a two-year term, 1878-79, resigned before his term was up to become Athens County prosecuting attorney. Subsequently, he left Athens to relocate in Columbus where he ultimately became mayor, then Congressman from Franklin County.

Several men succeeded to the office when the elected mayor vacated the office prior to the expiration of his term: James Perry Wood, in December 1879, Edward T. Rose in September 1899, Silas E. Hedges In June 1907, C. M. Gill in November 1922, and William Herbert in 1957.

Peter Seel, the only mayor to die in office, had won the Distinguished Flying Cross in World War II.

Sara Hendricker is unique as the first and only woman to be mayor, serving eight years.

The mayor's office was long unsalaried and indeed, his major function in terms of time was operating the Mayor's Court for which he was compensated by fee. State statutes which prescribed the structure of city government made the mayor the community's chief executive. He appointed the two major executives - the Service Director and the Public Safety Director. While the mayor's post was full time and carried a modest salary--$1,200 in 1912, the other two positions were, at best, half- or even quarter-time posts. Mayor's Court continued until after World War II when the Municipal Court was created.

The job of mayor became increasingly demanding as the village in the late nineteenth century had to negotiate franchises with the gas, telephone, and transit companies that served Athens and to provide the infrastructure that a modern city demanded-paved streets, sidewalks, public recreation facilities, and a public water and sewer system. Much of this burden fell on the council, but as a full time official, the mayor was always involved in the planning and negotiations and took much of the brunt of public complaints if anything went wrong. More than one Athenian was taxed by the increasing demands for managerial skills. Mayor Charles Slaughter tell short in the mind of his successor, Oliver F. Rowland. Rowland was only partially successful in proving his charges, yet, Slaughter was sent to the Ohio Penitentiary for his mishandling of fines collected in Mayor’s Court. He finally negotiated a restitution payment of some $400 to the city treasury. Slaughter, it might be pointed out, had his counterparts in the administration of Ohio University and of Athens County. Casual nineteenth-century ways of managing funds did not suffice in the twentieth century.

Following World War II, a new breed of mayor served Athens. The mayor's salary was periodically increased, making the office possible for persons with professional managerial experience. Colonel Donald Barrett brought to the office years of administrative experience as an Air Force officer. Sara Hendricker, out of Ohio University's Institute for Local Government, was a specialist in budgeting. The incumbent, Richard Abel, entered the mayor's office with years of experience as president of the Athens City Council.

MAYORS OF ATHENS, OHIO

   1828-32 Joseph Dana     		1896-99	O. E. Davis
   1832-33 John Gillmore   		1899-02	Edward T. Rose
   1833-36 Samuel Miller		1902-06	Henry Logan
   1836-37 Isaac N. Norton		1906-07	Gilbert E. Day
   1837-38 Henry Bartlett		1907-10	Silas E. Hedges
   1838-39 records missing		1910-14	Charles H. Slaughter
   1839-42 John Brown, 2d.		1914-17	Oliver F. Rowland
   1842-43 Norman Root			1918-19	Erwin C. Woodworth
   1843-48 John Brown, 2d.		1920-22	Thomas B. Roush
   1848-49 Samuel Miller		1922-23	Clarence M. Gill
   1849-50 John Brown, 2d.		1924-25	Leander A. Koons
   1850-52 Samuel Miller		1926-29	Alex M. Moore
   1852-53 John Brown, 2d.		1930-33	Robert S. Wood
   1853-64 Norman Root			1934-37	Len B. McCune
   1864-67 Joseph M. Dana		1938-41	Clifford C. Cornell
   1867-68 George W. Baker		1942-47	Franz L. Woodworth
   1868-69 Joseph M. Dana		1948-51	William P. Mickle
   1869-70 Hiram C. Martin		1952-57	Peter B. Seel
   1870-78 William Golden		1957-57	William H. Herbert
   1878-79 Emmett Tompkins		1958-61	Kenneth W. Lands
   1879-84 James P. Wood		1962-71	Raymond Shepard
   1884-88 Judiah Higgins		1972-83	Donald L. Barrett
   1888-90 Edward T. Rose		1984-87	Edward R. Beckett
   1890-94 Charles H. Mintun		1988-95	Sara A. Hendricker
   1894-96 William S. Wilson		1996-	Richard	B. Abel

The mayors are listed in the order in which they first took office.

Joseph Dane. Born at Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1768, Joseph Dana was educated at Dartmouth College and had studied law and served in the Massachusetts legislature prior to migrating to Athens in 1817. Dana pursued the law off and on, serving as Athens County prosecuting attorney, 1817-20. He also trained several of Athens lawyers. But his principal occupation was as a professor of foreign language at Ohio University. When the office of mayor was created in 1828, Dana was elected to village council and chosen mayor, holding office 1828-32. He died in November 18, 1849.

John Gillmore. Gillmore was born in Washington County, New York on December 25, 1786. Soon after his birth, his father, James, took the family to Rutland, Vermont. In 1813, the family migrated to Ohio. Gillmore was village assessor, 1826-27. In 1828, he was elected to the village council, on which he served until 1833. During his last year on council, he was elected mayor, 1832-1833. Subsequently, he served two terms in the Ohio legislature. In 1836, Gillmore moved to Illinois, eventually settling in Rock Island, where he died July 9, 1859.

Samuel Miller. Born in Pennsylvania c. 1796, Miller was a house painter. He was mayor, 1833-36, 1848-49, 1850-52.

Isaac N. Norton. Norton is described in his son Joseph's obituary as "a former prominent merchant" of Athens. His advertisements in the Athens Mirror indicate that during the mid-1820's he made chairs and cabinets at an "old shop" on Washington Street. He had been a dry goods merchant in the 1820s and 1830s. He was Athens mayor, 1836-37. In 1836, he was also Athens County treasurer. It is likely that Norton was born in Cortland, New York, in the late 1700s or early 1800s. He died in 1837.

Henry Bartlett. Bartlett, born in Beverly, Massachusetts, in 1771, migrated with his father's family to Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in 1783 and thence to Marietta in 1796. He came to Athens in the late 1790s. As Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, he was the first salaried public official in the county, receiving $30 a year. He was a long-term secretary and auditor for Ohio University. He served one term as mayor of the village, 1837-38. He died in Athens, September 9, 1850.

John Brown 2d. The "General" was best known as keeper of Brown's Inn on the corner of Union and College Streets. Born in Rowe, Massachusetts, December 1, 1785, he migrated with his father, Captain Benjamin Brown, arriving in Marietta in 1797 and in Ames in 1799. Brown married Sophia Walker, sister of Dr. Ezra Walker, and they moved to Athens in 1817. He was county auditor for six years in the 1820s and from 1824 to 1875, treasurer of Ohio University. He was mayor of Athens 1839-42, 1843-48, 1849-50, and 1852-53, a total of ten years. He died March 29, 1876.

Norman Root. Born in Canaan, Connecticut, January 22, 1798, Root came to Ohio in 1816 and to Athens about 1820. He married Jane Brice, sister of one Athens' leading merchants, Thomas Brice. He was repeatedly elected county auditor and was also county recorder. He was a businessman. For a time, at least, he was associated with Calvary Morris in the production of salt in the Chauncey area. "A man of great modesty and reticence," he served as mayor,1842-43. In 1853, he returned to the mayor's office where he served continuously until 1864. He died September 21, 1867.

Joseph M. Dana. The son of Athens' first mayor, Joseph M. was born in Athens, March 22, 1822, and was the first native of Athens to become its mayor. Possessing "warm, generous and social qualities", he began a long public life as his father's deputy as Clerk of the Common Pleas Court. He succeeded his father in that office in 1842 and held it for the next fifteen years. After studying law with his father, he was admitted to the bar in 1852. He was treasurer of Athens County from 1859 to 1861. During the Civil War, he served as captain in the 13th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI) and later in the 3d OVI. After the war, he was a law partner of Charles H. Grosvenor, member of the Athens school board, a trustee of Ohio University and its secretary and auditor. He was mayor of Athens, 1864-67 and 1868-69. He died in Athens, July 10, 1881.

George Washington Baker. A general insurance agent in later life, Baker was born near Athens, May 2, 1829. At twenty, he clerked in the drug store of John Perkins. Lured by California gold, he spent two years in the gold fields, then resumed the drug business as a partner of Perkins. For a time, he was a partner of Fred L. Ballard. During the War between the States, given his business experience, he was usually assigned as a commissary; he left service as a lieutenant colonel. Elected mayor of Athens, 1867-69, he moved on to be county treasurer for two terms and clerk of courts for nine years. He died July 12, 1896.

Hiram C. Martin. A native of Ohio, born August 10, 1833, Martin was mayor of Athens, 1869-70. He was the son-in-law of Judge S. B. Pruden. In private life he was a real estate agent. His public career included service as a justice of the peace and he had been appointed by Governor Hayes to be a delegate to a National Emigration Conversion at New Orleans. He died of "typhoid pneumonia" February 21, 1876. President Scott of Ohio University assisted at his funeral.

William Golden. Golden was the last of Athens' mayors to be born in the eighteenth century, being born in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1799. A farmer, for years he was a justice of the peace in Alexander Township, county sheriff (1843-47), county treasurer (1848-54), and later postmaster in Athens village. He held the office of mayor, 1870-78. His son, William Reed Golden, was a state senator representing Athens, Hocking, and Fairfield counties. The ex-mayor died in 1887.

Emmett Tompkins. The only mayor, thus far, to become a congressman, Tompkins was born in McConnelsville, September 1, 1853. A graduate of Ohio University, he studied law with Charles Grosvenor and was admitted to the bar in 1875. From 1876 to 1878, he was Athens village solicitor. In 1878, he was elected mayor of Athens but resigned New Year's Eve 1879 to take office as Athens County prosecting attorney. Overshadowed politically by his elders, Charles Grosvenor, Charles Townsend, and Leonidas Jewett, Tompkins removed to Columbus in 1889 to seek wider opportunities, and subsequently becoming Congressman from Franklin County, 1901-03. He wife was Martha Welch, granddaughter of John Welch, one-time chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Tompkins died in Columbus, December 18, 1917.

James Perry Wood. Attorney at law, Wood was born at Rio Grande, Ohio, April 24, 1854, and was educated at Hillsdale College, Michigan. For a time, he taught school in Albany, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan. After studying law privately, he was admitted to the bar in 1878 and formed a partnership with Charles Townsend. New Year's Eve, 1879, he was appointed mayor, succeeding Emmett Tompkins. He was elected in his own right in 1880 and again in 1882, and served to 1884. From 1880 on, he practiced law with his older brother, Joseph Mauk Wood. In the 1890s, he served six years as county prosecuting attorney. He attained national recognition as president of the Spanish Treaty Claims Commission, 1900-1910. He died in Athens, September 19, 1937.

Judiah Higgins. Born in Cadiz, Ohio, in 1837, Higgins was a saddler, having learned the trade as an apprentice of J. W. Bayard. His public career included several terms on the Athens Village Council, Athens Township trustees, and member of the Athens Board of Education. He was a two-term mayor of Athens, 1884-88. He died sometime after 1900.

Edward T. Rose. Born August 8, 1857, Rose was most widely known as a justice of the peace, serving in that capacity for twenty-eight years. He was admitted to the bar and served Athens as mayor on two occasions, 1888-90 and 1899-1902. In the latter instance, he completed the unexpired term of O. E. Davis, then was elected in his own right. He died of a chronic heart condition, March 27, 1810.

Charles H. Mintun. Mayor, 1890-94. A law-and-order man, Minton's agenda emphasized curbing boys who loitered around church vestibules, who carried firearms, and who hung about the electric lights. He also sought to curb violence in local saloons and to supress prostitution.

William Stephen Wilson. Colonel Wilson was born April 13, 1827, at New Haven, Connecticut. Enlisting in the 36th OVI, he was elected captain. At war's end, he left service as a lieutenant colonel. His public career included service as probate judge, sheriff, and treasurer of Athens County. In the last decade of his life, he was mayor of Athens, 1894-96. He died March 5, 1898.

O. E. Davis. Mayor, 1896-99. Davis resigned his office September 29, 1899.

Henry Logan. Logan was born in Alexander Township, November 21, 1832. A farmer, he was also a long-time merchant in Pleasanton, as well a postmaster. Moving to Athens in 1885, he joined Judiah Higgins in the farm implement and buggy business for ten years. Later he engaged in securing gas and oil leases. He was elected mayor of Athens in 1902, serving until 1906. He died in Athens, November 12, 1913.

Gilbert E. Day. Mayor, 1906-07. Encountering marital problems, Day precipitously resigned the mayor's office.

Silas E. Hedges. Ohio-born, September 26, 1847, Hedges held a variety of public offices. For fourteen years, he was clerk of court, 1880-94. He also had been a deputy sheriff, an assessor, and justice of the peace. In Athens Village, he had been a member of council and mayor, 1907-10. Prior to becoming mayor, Hedges and his son operated a grocery. He was struck down by a heart attack on September 11, 1931.

Charles M. Slaughter. Mayor, 1910-14. Like his predecessors, Slaughter was preoccupied with his duties as a justice of the peace, but his conduct of that office profoundly offended his successor. Slaughter was charged with misappropriating property that had been seized in a raid and with pocketing fines collected in mayor's court. The first charge could not be sustained, but Slaughter's financial accounts were in disarray. Found guilty of misappropriating public funds, he served about a year in the state penitentiary before being pardoned. He subsequently made restitution of some $400. He entered the 1921 primary contest for mayor but was defeated.

Oliver F. Rowland. Born September 17, 1883, in Harrison County, Ohio, Rowland attended Valpariso University for two years and graduated from the Ohio State University Law School in 1909. On moving to Athens in 1909, he formed a law partnership with John J. Woolley. Shortly. he was elected mayor of Athens, 1914-17; he also saw service on the city council. For nineteen years, 1930-49, he was a common pleas court judge for Athens County. On retiring from the bench, he re-entered the practice of law with his son, William. He died in Athens September 13, 1973.

Erwin C, Woodworth. A native of the Millfield area, Woodworth, was born December 29, 1872. He attended Ohio University and was instrumental in starting the Athens County Gazette. Later he worked for the Athens Messenger. In the Spanish-American War, he served in Athens Co. B, 7th OVI. In later years, he was owner of the Athens Printing Company. His public offices included two terms in the Ohio legislature, 1910-14, two terms as Athens County treasurer, and as president of the city council. He was mayor of Athens, 1918-19. He died April 19, 1936, of injuries incurred in an automobile accident.

Thomas B. Roush. Ohio-born, c. 1861. Roush was Mayor, 1920-22. Early in his second term, Mayor Roush appointed his son Pearl to be chief of police. In the fall the son was observed, intoxicated at an Athens High School football game. Shortly, the Chamber of Commerce employed a private detective to investigate rumors of corrupt conduct on the chief's part. When the chief was caught redhanded soliciting and accepting a bribe in connection with a proposed construction contract, the chief was fired and his father, the mayor, reigned in embarrassment on November 6, 1922. He died prior to 1932.

Clarence M. Gill. Ohio-born c. 1888, Gill operated his own insurance agency at least from 1917 to 1932 with offices in the Security Bank Building. He was mayor, 1922-23. He was still alive and in Athens in 1946 but was no longer present by 1952.

Leander A. Koons. Born in Dover Township in 1854, Koons settled in Athens after his graduation from the Cincinnati Law School where he was a classmate of William Howard Taft. He practiced law with A. B. Brown and Henry T. Brown and later with Emmett Tompkins. Koons was a member of the Ohio State Board of Pardons and the State Board of Law Examiners. He served as Athens' mayor, 1924-25. He died in March 1941.

Alex M. Moore. He was born in Ohio in 1872. He was mayor of Athens, 1926-29. In private life, he was a salesman and a West State Street grocer prior to becoming mayor. He died in 1957.

Robert Simpson Wood. Athens-born in 1887, Wood was the nephew of mayor James Perry Wood. A graduate of Ohio University, Wood coached the first Ohio Conference football team in 1909 and 1910. Thereafter, he joined his father as a dairy farmer in Alexander Township. His service in World War I lasted from July to December 1918, after which he resumed dairy farming and operated a milk store in Athens. He was mayor of Athens, 1930 through 1931. At the time of his death he worked for the Ohio Bureau of Unemployment Compensation. He died in Columbus, apparently of a heart attack, April 19, 1949.

Len B. McCune. Born in Bern Township in 1886, McCune was a salesman and owner of the McCune Tire Company prior to becoming mayor. He held that office from 1934 through 1937. Subsequently he engaged in the oil and gas well drilling business. He died on October 14, 1951, in Charleston, West Virginia.

Clifford C. Cornell. A one-time manager of the D. Zenner Company store and operator of his own women's apparel shop, The Vogue Shop on S. Court Street, Cornell was mayor from 1938 through 1941. He had been president of the Athens Retail Merchants Association and of the Athens City Council. Sometime after 1946, he moved to Florida and lived there at the time of his death.

Franz L. Woodworth. Born in 1875, Woodworth managed the Manhattan Store at Lurhig in the early 1920s. Later he managed mining properties. By 1932, he was a Court Street merchant, selling shoes and men's furnishings. He was mayor from 1942 through 1947. He died in 1968.

William P. Mickle. A native of Coolville, born c. 1895, Mickle was a graduate of Amesville High School and a veteran of World War I. He settled in Athens in 1920, and having first been employed by the Stedman Packing Company and the McCune Tire Company, he bought out McCune to establish his own Mickle Tire and Accessory Company. His term as mayor ran from 1948 through 1951. He was also a deputy in the county auditor's office and an employee of the Hocking Conservancy District. He was a founder and executive secretary of the Home Savings and Loan Association and a founder of the Athens County Savings and Loan. He died in Athens, October 1, 1981.

Peter R. Seel. A real estate and insurance man, Seel was a native of Athens County, born in 1912, and a graduate of Ohio University. He was also a graduate of the Cincinnati College of Embalming. During World War II, as a B-25 pilot in the African and Italian campaigns, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. As mayor, 1952 through 1957, he oversaw the construction of the city's sewage treatment plant, the renovation of the City Building, and the beginning of a water treatment and softening plant. Seel was killed a single-car accident near Charleston, West Virginia, February 12, 1957.

William H. Herbert. Born c. 1904, Herbert earned a B. S. at Ohio University and a M. A. degree from Columbia University. For twenty-seven years he was head track coach and freshman football coach at Ohio. From 1942 to 1966 he was the university's purchasing agent. Active in civic affairs, he was president of Athens City Council, 1951-57. He succeeded Peter B. Seel as mayor, completing Seel's term of office from February through December 1957. As mayor he worked for establishment of the east by-pass. From 1963-66, he was a member of the Athens Planning Commission. After retiring from Ohio University, Herbert removed to Naples, Florida, where he still lives.

Kenneth W. Lands. Born c. 1908, Lands was variously an Athens police officer, county probation officer, and a municipal court bailiff. He retired as an employee of the Athens Mental Health Center. On the side, he was a gunsmith. He served Athens as mayor 1958 through 1961. He died in January 1983.

Raymond Shepard. Born April 11, 1908, and a native of Corning, Ohio, Shepard came to Athens in 1922 and graduated from Athens High School. Having worked for the Acme Dry Cleaners for five years, he purchased the Buckeye Cleaners in 1932 which he operated until he became mayor. He brought experience of three terms as councilman-at-large to the mayor's post, a position he held from 1962-1971. As mayor, Shepard again made the office a full-time position, the office paying $3600 a year. His major achievement was in redeveloping an adequate water supply for the city. His administration also introduced the city income tax, enlarged the sewer system, built the city parking garage, tripled the personnel of the police and fire departments, and established a fire station headquarters on Columbus Road and a sub station on Richland Avenue. On retiring as mayor, Shepherd returned to the dry cleaning business. He still resides in Athens.

Donald L. Barrett. The benchmark of Donald Barrett's twelve-year tenure as mayor, 1972 though 1983, was his "practice of being fair and his ability to recognize that people have basic philosophical differences". Born July 1, 1918, in Kenton, Ohio, Barrett graduated from Heidelberg College in 1940 and did graduate work at the University of Nebraska and Ohio University. A career Air Force officer, Colonel Barrett served in the 8th Air Force in Europe and subsequently spent twenty years with the Strategic Air Command. He came to Athens as commandant of the Ohio University Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps. His twelve years as Athens mayor is one of the longest tenures. After leaving the mayor's office, Barrett was a member of a number of boards and commissions. He continues to live in Athens.

Edward Ray Beckett, Jr. Born c. 1935, Beckett was a 1956 graduate of West Virginia University. He came to Athens in 1962 as assistant registrar at Ohio University. He also operated a Baskin Robbins franchise. He was mayor 1984 through 1987. Subsequent to leaving office, he removed to Florida where he presently lives.

Sara Ague Hendricker. Born June 21, 1941 in Coffeyville, Kansas, Hendricker graduated from Steven Austin College, Texas. She has a second undergraduate degree and a master's degree from Ohio University. Athens' first woman mayor, Hendricker came to that office from the Ohio University's Institute for Local Governmental Administration and Rural Development with special skills in municipal budgeting. She had served two terms on city council and had been Athens City Budget Director. As mayor, 1988-95, she was committed to the restructuring of administrative positions and to enlarging the role of the City Planning Commission. After leaving the mayor's office, she took a position with the Ohio Municipal League. She continues to live in Athens.

Richard Abel. Although Abel was born in Columbus, Ohio, September 22, 1945, Coshocton, Ohio, was his home until 1954. He earned a degree in business administration at Ohio University (1967). He worked for Ohio Valley Health Services and for Southeast Ohio Emergency Medical Services. His public offices include election to city council 1982-89 and president of council, 1990-95. He became mayor in 1996.