William Lafayette Strong was the 90th Mayor of New York City. Under him the city was honestly governed for the first time in many years, and in some departments there was great improvement in efficiency.
Background
William was born on March 22, 1827 in Richland County, Ohio, United States. His father, Abel Strong, was of New England descent; his mother, Hannah (Burdine) Strong, a native of Pennsylvania. His father died when William was thirteen, and soon afterward he began work as a clerk in a country store to aid in the support of his mother and four other children.
Career
After working in a store in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1853 Strong went to New York with the fixed determination of making a fortune, an ambition in which he succeeded so well that at his death he was a millionaire. His first position in New York was that of clerk in the wholesale dry-goods house of L. O. Wilson & Company, the business which he followed throughout his adult life.
After sixteen years as an employee he considered himself financially ready to launch his own business, and at forty-two established the firm of W. L. Strong & Company, which from the first was greatly successful. He was also president of the Central National Bank and of the Homer Lee Bank Note Company, vice-president of the New York Security and Trust Company, and a director in other banks, insurance, and railroad companies.
In 1882 he ran for Congress unsuccessfully. In 1894, following exposures by the Lexow Committee of corruption in New York's city government, the "Committee of Seventy" (representing clubs and other organizations standing for civic betterment) selected Strong as its non-partisan candidate for mayor, and he was elected by a large majority over the Tammany Hall candidate.
He had scarcely been inaugurated, however, when he began to be troubled by dissensions among his supporters, and his whole incumbency was beset by difficulties such as few mayors have encountered. His sole idea was to conduct his office in behalf of good government and without regard to political considerations.
But the various elements which had brought about his election fought for precedence and for the appointment of their candidates to office, and Strong's political inexperience, his unwillingness to bargain in matters of right and wrong, kept him in stormy weather all through his single term. So unpleasant were his experiences that he positively refused to consider a renomination in 1897, and said that he would never again offer himself for public office.
Two of his memorable appointments were those of Theodore Roosevelt as police commissioner and Colonel George E. Waring as street commissioner, under whose regime the city had the cleanest streets yet known in its history. The New York and East River Bridge, the consolidation of the New York Public Library, and other large projects were begun during his administration.
As a result of Strong's independent attitude, he and Thomas Collier Platt, the Republican boss, became enemies, and after his own term expired Strong supported Seth Low, the Independent candidate for mayor, as against the Republican nominee, though he still considered himself a Republican.
Strong died in his home on November 2, 1900.
Achievements
Politics
An ardent Republican, he served for long periods as president of the Union League and the Business Men's Republican Association, but sought public office only twice.
Connections
In 1866, Strong married Mary Aborn from New Jersey, with whom he had two children - Putnam Bradlee Strong and Mary Strong.