City of Wichita - Previous Wichita Mayors 1917-1950

1917-1950

1917 - Wichita modified the structure of its city government. All five commissioners were to be elected at large and to choose among one of them as mayor. The commission would be limited to a legislative role and the executive direction of the city administration to be handled by a full-time salaried city manager.

Here is a listing of mayors who served during the years 1917-1950:

#22 - Lewis William Clapp (1917-1919 - resigned October 3, 1919 to become City Manager)

Born: Sept 23, 1858
Died: Dec 15, 1934 (interred at Highland Cemetery)

Occupation: Wichita City Manager

City Manager (1919-21). Was Park President and responsible for many improvements in Riverside and Sim Parks and developing Oak Park. Meadowlark Golf Course was renamed L.W. Clapp Golf Course in 1956.

#23 - John Lee Powell (1919-1920)

Born: 1859
Died: Oct 28, 1946 (interred at Maple Grove Cemetery)

Occupation: unknown

Served as City Commissioner (1917-19, 1919-21).

#24 - Wallace C. Kemp (1921-1922)

Born: Sept 24, 1883
Died: Aug 30, 1929 (interred at Maple Grove Cemetery)

Occupation: unknown

Served as City Commissioner (1922-23).

#25 - George Henry Hamilton (1922 - resigned August 22, 1922)

Born: 1875
Died: Jan 20, 1948 (interred at Old Mission Mausoleum)

Occupation: unknown

Served as City Commissioner (1921-22).

#26 - William Coffin Coleman (1922-1923)

Born: May 21, 1870
Died: Nov 2, 1957 (interred at Old Mission Mausoleum)

Occupation: educator, inventor, businessman

Served as City Commissioner (1921-22, 1922-23, 1923-24, 1924-25). Founded The Coleman Company, Inc. Coleman Middle School named after him.

#28 & # 32 - Frank Leslie Dunn (1924-1925, 1928-1929)

Born: May 17, 1871
Died: Dec 22, 1953 (interred at Old Mission Cemetery)

Occupation: owner of Dunn Investment Company and owner of Dunn Mercantile Company

Served as City Commissioner (1923-24, 1925-26, 1926-27, 1927-28, 1929-30, resigned July 7, 1930). Member of the Rotary, Wichita Club and Sunflower Club. He was president of the League of Kansas Municipalities while City Commissioner in 1929. Elected as mayor of Eastborough on June 15, 1937.

#29 - Ben F. Copley (1925-1926)

Born: unknown
Died: unknown (internment unknown)

Occupation: unknown

Served as City Commissioner (1923-24, 1924-25, 1926-27).

#30, #35 & #39 - Frank Nighswonger (1926-1927, 1931-1932, 1935-1936)

Born: Nov 11, 1858
Died: Oct 5, 1937 (interred at Old Mission Cemetery)

Occupation: attorney

Served as a City Commissioner (1923-24, 1924-25, 1925-26, 1927-28, 1929-30, 1930-31, 1932-33, 1933-34, 1934-35, 1936-37 - died in office during term of 1937-38 and was replaced by Elmer R. Corn). Served in Kansas Senate - District 29 (1913, 1915, 1917, 1919, 1920).

#31 - Albertus J. Coombs (1927-1928)

Born: Feb 6, 1873
Died: Dec 29, 1943 (interred at Maple Grove Cemetery)

Occupation: unknown

Served as City Commissioner (1925-26, 1926-27, 1928-29).

#33 & #37 - Charles Smith Lawrence (1929-1930, 1933-1934)

Born: Oct 10, 1876
Died: Sept 20, 1924 (interred at Wichita Park Cemetery)

Occupation: unknown

Served as City Commissioner (1927-28, 1928-29, 1930-31, 1931-32, 1932-33, 1934-35). He was secretary treasurer of the King-Lawrence Lumber Company, director of the Citizens Finance Company and the Central States Building and Loan Company. He was also director of the Southwestern Retail Lumber Dealers Association, vice president of the Wichita Chamber of Commerce, member of the Retail Merchants Association, elder of the First Presbyterian Church and past president of the Wichita Lions Club.

Lawrence-Dumont Stadium and Lawrence Elementary School were named after his father, R.E. Lawrence, one of Wichita's pioneers. Broadway Street was originally named Lawrence.

#34 - Herman A. Hill (1930-1931)

Born: 1866
Died: Sept 12, 1936 (interred at Maple Grove Cemetery)

Occupation: unknown

Herman Hill Park named after him. Served as City Commissioner (1927-28 - replaced C.C. Dehner, 1928-29, 1929-30, 1931-32 - resigned during term of 1932-33 and replaced by Schuyler Crawford)

#36 - Harry D. Cottman (1932-1933)

Born: Oct 24, 1872
Died: Nov 10, 1949 (nterred at Old Mission Mausoleum)

Occupation: co-owner of Cottman & Chambers store

Served as City Commissioner (1930-31, 1931-32, 1934-35, 1935-36, 1936-37, 1937-38)

#38 - James Schuyler Crawford (1934-1935)

Born: Jul 30, 1896
Died: June 15, 1974 (interred at Calvary Methodist Cemetery, Garden Plain, KS)

Occupation: owner of Schuyler Crawford Grocery

Served as City Commissioner (December 5, 1932-33 - replaced Herman A. Hill as commissioner, 1933-34, 1935-36, 1936-37, 1937-38, 1938-39, 1939-40, 1940-41)

#40 - Robert Elijah Israel (1936-1937)

Born: Dec 9, 1886
Died: Oct 28, 1961 (interred at Wichita Park Cemetery)

Occupation: real estate and insurance

Served as City Commissioner (1933-34, 1934-35, 1935-36, 1937-38, 1938-39, 1939-40, 1940-41, 1945-46, 1946-47, 1947-48, 1948-49). He was a member of St. Paul Methodist Church. He had served as president of the Wichita and the Kansas State Real Estate Boards. He was a member of Rotary Club, High Twelve, a Masonic service club and other Masonic, groups. In his later years he served as an appraiser of real estate. He worked in that capacity for the city, county, state and private, concerns. He also served for al period as manager of the Bitting Building and before that as an agent for the Mead estate. He was a special appraiser for the! Home Owners Loan Corporation.

His father, Ruben C. Israel, owned the Riverside Boathouse.

#41 - T. Walker Weaver (1937-1938)

Born: 1885
Died: 1962 (interred at Old Mission Cemetery)

Occupation: doctor

Served on the Board of Education. Served as City Commissioner (1935-36, 1936-37, 1938-39).

#42 & #44 - Elmer R. Corn (1938-1939, 1940-1941)

Born: Dec 21, 1892
Died: Aug 19, 1972 (interred at Mission Chapel Mausoleum)

Occupation: oilman

Served as City Commissioner (1937-38 - replaced Frank Nighswonger as commissioner, 1939-40, 1941-42 - resigned Nov 13, 1941 and replaced by E.C. Moriarty as commissioner).

#43 & #50 - Frank W. Coleman (1939-1940, 1946-1947)

Born: Jan 15, 1889
Died: Feb 8, 1965 (interred at Maple Grove Cemetery)

Occupation: owner of Coleman Office Supply

No relation to Mayor William C. Coleman. Served as City Commissioner (1940-41, 1941-42, 1942-43, 1943-44, 1944-45, 1945-46).

#45 - John I. Dotson (1941-1942)

Born: Feb 2, 1900
Died: Apr 4, 1953 (interred at Greenwood Cemetery, Newton, KS)

Occupation: unknown

Served as City Commissioner (1939-40, 1940-41, 1942-43)

#46 - Odom Farrell Sullivan (1942-1943)

Born: Mar 12, 1897
Died: Jan 9, 1981 (interred at Wichita Park Cemetery)

Occupation: Operated several Wichita movie theaters (Palace, Crest, Crawford, Civic, Tower, West 81 Drive-In and 54 Drive-In) - none of which exist today.

Served as City Commissioner (1941-42, 1943-44, 1943-44). Sentenced in 1953 to 3 years in prison on charges of income tax evasion.

#47 - Eugene Calendar Moriarty (1943-1944)

Born: Dec 14, 1883
Died: Mar 20, 1972 (interred at Old Mission Mausoleum)

Occupation: oilman

Served as City Commissioner (1941-42 - replaced Elmer R. Corn as commissioner, 1942-43, 1944-45, 1945-46, 1946-47).

#48 - Herman William Beuttel (1944-1945)

Born: May 18, 1900
Died: Jan 19, 1986 (interred at Old Mission Mausoleum)

Occupation: unknown

Served as City Commissioner (1941-42, 1942-43, 1943-44).

#49 - Philip H. Manning (1945-1946)

Born: Aug 5, 1904
Died: Apr 12, 1982 (interred at Wichita Park Cemetery)

Occupation: president of Manning Clampitt Meat Company Inc., became first director of Old Cow Town

Served as City Commissioner (1943-44, 1944-45, 1946-47). Served in the Kansas House of Representatives - District 68 (1953, 1955, 1956).

#51 - Charles S. Ritchie (1947-1948)

Born: unknown
Died: unknown (internment unknown)

Occupation: paint wholesaler

Served as City Commissioner (1945-46, 1946-47, 1948-49).

#52 & #59 - Louis August Donnell (1948-1949, 1954-1955)

Born: Mar 23, 1906
Died: May 1, 1959 (interred at White Chapel Memorial Gardens)

Occupation: physician

Father of Mayor James M. Donnell. Served as City Commissioner (1947-48, 1949-50, 1950-51, 1951-52, 1952-53, 1953-54, 1954-55 - replaced William Salome as mayor).

#53 & #58 - William Christian Salome, Jr. (1949-1950, 1954 - resigned 12/21/54)