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Mayor of Tallahassee
Seal of the City of Tallahassee
Flag of the City of Tallahassee
Incumbent John E. Dailey since November 19, 2018
Style	The Honorable
Term length	4 years
Inaugural holder	Charles Haire
Formation	1826
Salary	$80,289
Website

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Government
v t e

The mayor of Tallahassee is head of the executive branch of the government of Tallahassee, Florida.

For part of the city's history the office of mayor was a rotating position chosen among city commissioners. Tallahassee switched to the direct election of its mayors in 1997.

List

Florida Territory

Image	Mayor	Years	Notes
	Charles Haire	1826	was elected Intendant
	David Ochiltree	1827	moved to Florida from Fayetteville, North Carolina. He also served as a justice of the peace. Ochiltree died in 1834 at his residence on Rocky Comfort Creek (Florida). He was a colonel and was a member elect of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida for Gadsden County when he died.
	John Y. Gary	1828–1829
	Leslie A. Thompson	1830
	Charles Austin	1831
	Leslie A. Thompson (2nd term)	1832–1833
	Robert J. Hackley	1834	Hackley was a pioneer settler sent by his father to an area by Tampa Bay. He was dispossessed of his land for the establishment of Fort Brooke. A case on behalf of his heirs went to the Supreme Court.
	William Wilson	1835
	John Rea	1836
	William P. Gorman	1837
	William Hilliard	1838
	R. F. Ker	1839
	Leslie A. Thompson (3rd term)	1840
	Francis W. Eppes	1841–1844

Statehood

Image	Mayor	Years	Notes
	James A. Berthelot	1845	He also served in the General Assembly and campaigned for another office on a no tax anti bond platform advertised on a poster. He was a mason and part of the Grand Lodge of Florida
	Simon Towle	1846	He was also a state comptroller. Owned the Towle House in Tallahassee, Florida
	James Kirksey	1847	Also delegate to the 1861 Secession Convention of Florida
	F. H. Flagg	1848
	Thomas James Perkins	1849
	David Porter Hogue	1850–1851	a lawyer who served as Attorney General in Florida.
	David S. Walker	1852	went on to serve as the eighth Governor of Florida from 1866 to 1868.
	Richard Hayward	1853
	Thomas Hayward	1854–1855
	Francis W. Eppes (2nd term)	1856–1857
	David Porter Hogue (2nd term)	1858–1860

Civil War era and Reconstruction

Image	Mayor	Years	Notes
	P. T. Pearce	1861–1865	appointed a trustee of the West Florida Seminary
	Francis W. Eppes (3rd term)	1866	grandson of Thomas Jefferson
	David Porter Hogue (3rd term)	1867–1868
	Thaddeus Preston Tatum	1869–1870	Tatum was a druggist and served in the Battle of Natural Bridge. Lived September 27, 1835 - July 4, 1873 and is buried in the Old City Cemetery.
	Charles Edgar Dyke	1871	a Conservative newspaper editor of the Floridian & Journal
	C. H. Edwards	1872–1874
	David S. Walker Jr.	1875	Son of David S. Walker
	Samuel Walker	1876

Post-Reconstruction

After World War I

Image	Mayor	Years	Notes
	Jesse Talbot Bernard	1877	First Democratic mayor after Reconstruction, which ended the year he was elected.
	David S. Walker Jr. (2nd term)	1878–1879
	Henry Bernreuter	1880	born in Columbus, Georgia to German immigrants, he moved as a child with his family to Florida. He was a Confederate veteran who later served as sheriff and police chief.
	Edward Lewis	1881
	Charles C. Pearce	1884–1885
	George W. Walker	1886
	A. J. Fish	1887
	Robert B. Gorman	1888–1889	Son of former mayor, William P. Gorman. Served in the Confederate Army and was postmaster in Tallahassee. As mayor, he signed on to a letter from the merchants of Tallahassee to the U.S. Army's Chief of Engineers calling for the St. Marks River to be made navigable to promote trade. In 1889 he reported on negotiations with a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania company for a water works system.
	Richard B. Carpenter	1890–1894	A shopkeeper, he went into bankruptcy and had a legal case for exemption given individuals declaring bankruptcy, even though the firm was established as a separate entity. Decided on appeal in his favor.
	Jesse Talbot Bernard (2nd term)	1895–1896	a teacher and judge who travelled around Florida to hear cases. Served in the Confederate Army.
	R. A. Shine	1897
	Robert B. Gorman (2nd term)	1898–1902
	William L. Moor	1903–1904
	John Ward Henderson	1905	He also served as a legislator.
	Foster Clinton Gilmore	1906
	William M. McIntosh Jr.	1907	he also served as Chief Clerk of the state's Comptroller Office.
	Foster Clinton Gilmore (2nd term)	1908
	Francis B. Winthrop	1909	The Florida State Archives have a photo of the family home as well as a photo of Winthrop, age 3. Florida State University has a photo of him in what appears to be a military uniform c. 1918 as well as some of his business documents in a collection of his family's papers. His family owned the Barrow Hill Plantation and a house at 610 North Magnolia, which he lived in with his wife for years.
	Dexter Marvin Lowry	1910–1917

After World War I

Image	Mayor	Years	Notes
	J. R. McDaniel	1918
	Guyte P. McCord	1919–1921	played on the 1904 Florida State College football team and scored a touchdown in the state championship game against Stetson
	A. P. McCaskill	1922–1923
	Ben A. Meginniss	1924–1925
	W. Theo Proctor	1926	(b.1892, d.1986)
	Ben A. Meginniss (2nd term)	1927
	W. Theo Proctor (2nd term)	1928–1929
	G. E. Lewis	1930
	Frank D. Moor	1931
	W. L. Marshall	1932–1933
	John L. Fain	1934
	Leonard A. Wesson	1935
	H. J. Yaeger	1936	(H. Jack Yaeger)
	Leonard A. Wesson (2nd term)	1937
	J. R. Jinks	1938
	Samuel A. Wahnish	1939	First Jewish mayor
	Frank D. Moor (2nd term)	1940
	Charles Saxon Ausley	1941
	Jack W. Simmons	1942
	A. R. Richardson	1943
	Charles Saxon Ausley (2nd term)	1944
	Ralph E. Proctor	1945

Post-World War II

Image	Mayor	Years	Notes
	Fred S. Winterle	1946	He and his son were involved in the oil distribution business.
	George I. Martin	1947
	Fred N. Lowry	1948	Younger brother of former mayor Dexter Marvin Lowry
	Robert C. Parker	1949–1950
	William H. Cates	1951
	B. A. Ragsdale	1952
	William T. Mayo	1953
	H. C. Summitt	1954
	J. T. Williams	1955–1956	Died November 24, 1970
	Fred S. Winterle (2nd term)	1956
	John Yaeger Humphress	1956–1957
	J. W. Cordell	1957
	Davis H. Atkinson	1958
	Hugh E. Williams Jr.	1959
	George Stanton Taff	1960
	J. W. Cordell (2nd term)	1961
	Davis H. Atkinson	1962
	Samuel E. Teague Jr.	1963
	Hugh E. Williams, Jr. (2nd term)	1964
	George Stanton Taff (2nd term)	1965
	William Haywood Cates (2nd Term)	1966	Longest-serving city commissioner in history of Tallahassee. In 1971, he was defeated by the first African American elected as commissioner, James R. Ford. His son drowned in a hunting accident. Was a religion professor at Florida State University and helped found religious organizations in Tallahassee.
	John A. Rudd, Sr.	1967
	Gene Berkowitz	1968	He also served as a City Commissioner in Tallahassee His wife was a schoolteacher. As a commissioner he voted to reopen the city's pools in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968.
	Spurgeon Camp	1969
	Lee A. Everhart	1970	founder and president of building company Everhart Construction Company
	Gene Berkowitz (2nd term)	1971
	James R. Ford	1972	First African-American mayor
	Joan Heggen	1973	First female mayor
	Russell R. Bevis	1974
	Earl Yancey	1974	His wife Lucy was the granddaughter of Florida politician Robert Flournoy Hosford.
	Johnny Jones	1975
	James R. Ford (2nd term)	1976
	Ben W. Thompson	1977
	Neal D. Sapp	1978	He was a paratrooper in the U.S. Army and graduated from Florida State University. He was a software developer and businessman. He died March 26, 2004.
	Sheldon E. Hilaman	1979	Former school principal. Known as "Shad". Hillaman Golf Course is named for him.
	Richard P. Wilson	1980
	Hurley W. Rudd	1981	also served as a city commissioner and multiple terms in the Florida legislature
	James R. Ford (3rd term)	1982
	Carol Bellamy	1983
	Kent Spriggs	1984	Civil Rights lawyer who also edited a book about Civil Rights leaders in the deep south. Appeared on C-Span while mayor discussing his duties.
	Hurley W. Rudd (2nd term)	1985
	Jack L. McLean Jr.	1986	Second African-American mayor
	Betty Harley	1987
	Frank Visconti	1988
	Dorothy Inman-Crews	1989	First female African-American mayor
	Steve Meisberg	1990
	Debbie Lightsey	1991
	Bob Hightower	1992
	Dorothy Inman-Crews (2nd term)	1993
	Penny Herman	1994
	Scott Maddox	1995
	Ron Weaver (mayor)	1996	4th African American mayor
	Scott Maddox (2nd term)	1997–2003	first directly elected mayor
	John Marks	2003–2014
	Andrew Gillum	2014–2018	Ran for governor in 2018 but lost narrowly to Ron DeSantis
	John E. Dailey	2018–present

See also

• Timeline of Tallahassee, Florida

References

1. "Mayoral candidate raises the question of a position overhaul".
2. "Tallahassee, Leon County". Viva Florida. Tallahassee: Florida League of Cities. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
3. "d.o. elected intendant in Tallahassee, fla. 1827". Newspapers.com.
4. Burgess, Louis Alexander (1 January 1973). Virginia soldiers of 1776: compiled from documents on file in the Virginia Land Office; together with material found in the Archives Department of the Virginia State Library, and other reliable sources. Genealogical Pub. Co. ISBN 9780806305295 – via Google Books.
5. Floridian and Advocate (Tallahassee, Florida), Dec. 27, 1834, p. 3: Obituary
6. Burnett, Gene M. (1 June 1996). Florida's Past: People and Events That Shaped the State. Pineapple Press Inc. ISBN 9781561641178 – via Google Books.
7. "A Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the ... General Assembly of the State of Florida, at Its ... Session". 7 December 2018. p. 3.
8. Florida, State Library and Archives of. "Campaign Poster for James A. Berthelot, James M. Gilchrist, and James H. Gibson". Florida Memory.
9. "Towle House - Florida Historical Markers". Waymarking.com.
10. Court, Florida Supreme (10 December 2018). "Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of Florida" – via Google Books.
11. Court, Florida Supreme (10 December 2018). "Florida Reports" – via Google Books.
12. "Portrait of Thaddeus Preston Tatum - Tallahassee, Florida". Florida Memory.
13. "Notes on Reconstruction in Tallahassee and Leon County, 1866-1876". The Florida Historical Society Quarterly. 5 (3): 153–158. 1927. JSTOR 30150750.
14. "Henry Bernreuter, Memorial article by friend". The Weekly True Democrat.
15. "BERNREUTER, Henry". Florida Memory.
16. "R B Gorman obit 17 April 1918 - Newspapers.com". Tallahassee Democrat. 17 April 1918. p. 1.
17. House, Florida Legislature (8 December 1881). "Journal ..." pp. 2–27.
18. "Report of the Chief of Engineers U.S. Army". U.S. Government Printing Office. 8 December 1889 – via Google Books.
19. "The Engineering Record, Building Record and Sanitary Engineer". McGraw Publishing Company. 8 December 1889.
20. "Mayor r b carpenter bankrupt - Newspapers.com". Tampa Bay Times.
21. Phillips, Rebecca; Bernard, Jesse Talbot (1939). "A Diary of Jesse Talbot Bernard". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 18 (2): 115–126. JSTOR 30145327.
22. Florida, State Library and Archives of. "Tallahassee Junior Museum officials". Florida Memory. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
23. History of Florida, Past and Present: Historical and Biographical. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company. 1923.
24. "Search Results". Florida Memory.
25. Florida, State Library and Archives of. "Portrait of William M. McIntosh Jr. standing by the Capitol - Tallahassee, Florida". Florida Memory.
26. Florida, State Library and Archives of. "Winthrop family home at 610 N. Monroe St. in Tallahassee, Florida". Florida Memory.
27. Florida, State Library and Archives of. "Francis B. Winthrop at age three". Florida Memory.
28. "Francis B. Winthrop - fsu.digital.flvc.org". fsu.digital.flvc.org.
29. "Winthrop Family Papers, 1592-1970 - FSU Special Collections & Archives". fsuarchon.fcla.edu.
30. Lawrence Kestenbaum (ed.). "Mayors and Postmasters of Tallahassee, Florida". Political Graveyard. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
31. Florida, State Library and Archives of. "Fred S. Winterle and son's Gulf oil distribution trucks". Florida Memory.
32. Ensley, Gerald (May 17, 2014). "Northeast streets named for banking family". Tallahassee Democrat.
33. "Ex-Mayor Williams is Dead here at 64". Tallahassee Democrat. November 25, 1970 – via Newspapers.com.
34. "Cates Ave. named for former city commissioner". Tallahassee Democrat.
35. ^ "Letter: Was it Wade or Berkowitz who reopened city pools?". Tallahassee Democrat.
36. Florida, State Library and Archives of. "New City Commissioner Gene Berkowitz with his wife in Tallahassee". Florida Memory.
37. Florida, State Library and Archives of. "Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Gene Berkowitz reading to class in Tallahassee". Florida Memory.
38. Butcher, Lee (10 December 1976). Florida's power structure: who's part of it and why. Trend Pub. ISBN 9780882510699 – via Google Books.
39. "S.E. Hilamen is Chairman of '64 March". Tallahassee Democrat. January 17, 1964 – via Newspapers.com.
40. Florida, State Library and Archives of. "Men on the course at the Winewood Golf Club in Tallahassee, Florida". Florida Memory.
41. 2006 obituary in the Tallahassee Democrat
42. "Kent Spriggs - C-SPAN.org". C-span.org.
43. "Robert S. Hightower". hightowerlaw.com. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
44. Varian, Bill (March 4, 1996). "Bethel". Tallahassee Democrat.
45. "Ron Weaver Steps Out Of Shadows To Become Mr. Mayor". Tallahassee Democrat. March 3, 1996. pp. 1B, 4B – via Newspapers.com.
46. "City Officials". City of Tallahassee. Archived from the original on June 5, 1997 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
47. ""I Cried Everyday": Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum to Discuss Controversial Incident on "Tamron Hall"". 10 September 2020.

• Mayors of Tallahassee, Florida
• Lists of mayors of places in Florida