Francis Clayton Bowden (born Francis Clayton Norris; December 26, 1903 – April 1972) was

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

from 1946 to 1948.

Biography

Francis C. Bowden was born on December 26, 1903, in

Roslyn, Washington Roslyn is a city in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 893 at the 2010 census. Roslyn is located in the Cascade Mountains, about 80 miles east of Seattle. The town was founded in 1886 as a coal mining company town. D ...

. He moved to Alaska in 1928 to work for the Curry Hotel on the

Alaska Railroad Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. He worked for drug stores in Cordova and Anchorage in the years that followed. In 1946, Bowden was elected Mayor of Anchorage, beating incumbent

Winfield Ervin Jr. Winfield Ervin Jr. (1902–1985) was a mayor of Anchorage, Alaska. Biography Ervin was born in 1902 in Portland, Oregon to Winfield Ervin Sr., a native of Lebanon, Oregon and Theora McNall of Oregon. He moved with his family to Lewiston, Idaho an ...

, who had been appointed to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of John E. Manders two weeks before the election. He served two terms, and promoted a $2.2 million bond offering to rehabilitate the city's aging public utilities. In 1948, Bowden became part-owner of Hewitt's Drugstore. Bowden died in April 1972 at Anchorage Community Hospital.

References

;General * ;Specific 1903 births 1972 deaths People from Roslyn, Washington Mayors of Anchorage, Alaska 20th-century American politicians {{Alaska-mayor-stub