Clarence Duncan Van Zandt (March 21, 1853 – June 17, 1926) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 50th mayor of

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

from 1922 to 1926.

Early life and career

Van Zandt was born in 1853 in Rochester. After receiving an education in the public schools, he was hired as an errand boy for the Lane and Paine Drug Company. In 1881, he became a member of the firm. That same year, he married Mary E. White. When Lane and Paine was incorporated as the Paine Drug Company in 1910, Van Zandt became the company president, and was the principal owner until the time of his death. Mary Van Zandt died in 1917.

Mayor of Rochester

In 1921, long-serving mayor Hiram Edgerton announced his retirement. George Aldridge, the boss of the local Republican Party, faced a challenge to his leadership from city council member Chip Bostwick, and recruited Van Zandt to run against him. Van Zandt had no prior experience in politics but secured the party nomination and was elected. Aldridge and Edgerton both died the following June, leaving Van Zandt as the party leader. He was reelected in 1923 and 1925. As mayor, Van Zandt oversaw the construction of the Rochester Subway, which began operations in 1927. Like his predecessor Edgerton, Van Zandt pursued municipal expansion into surrounding suburbs in order to extend municipal services to them. However, strong opposition campaigns were organized in 1924 against a proposal to annex neighborhoods of the towns of Brighton and Irondequoit. The proposal was defeated, and in 1927 a statewide referendum established home rule for all towns, halting any further expansion. Reform groups sought to break the power of the Republican machine during Van Zandt's term. The Municipal Research Bureau, founded by

George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the Eastman ...

, became increasingly influential in the 1920s and made many policy recommendations. It joined forces with the City Manager League, led by

Isaac Adler Isaac Adler may refer to: * Isaac Adler (politician) * Isaac Adler (physician) {{hndis, Adler, Isaac ...

, to campaign for a new city charter. In 1925, a referendum was held to replace the city's mayor-council government with a council-manager government. Van Zandt remained neutral on the referendum, which passed. As a result, he was the last strong mayor of Rochester until the city charter was modified again in 1984.

Death

Van Zandt unexpectedly died of a heart attack in 1926, during a trip to

Bancroft, Ontario Bancroft () is a town located on the York River in Hastings County in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was first settled in the 1850s by United Empire Loyalists and Irish immigrants. From the mid-1950s to about 1982, mining was the primary ...

References

External links

Clarence Duncan Van Zandt
at Find A Grave {{s-end Mayors of Rochester, New York New York (state) Republicans 1853 births 1926 deaths People from Monroe County, New York 20th-century American politicians