James Barker Edmonds (May 20, 1832 – December 29, 1900) was
president of the board of commissioners for the District of Columbia, United States, from 1883 to 1886.
Edmonds was born in
Saratoga County, New York. He began the study of the law early and was only 21 when he was admitted to the
New York State bar in 1853 and entered practice. Three years later, in 1856, Edmonds relocated to
Iowa City
Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...
,
Iowa, then the capital of the state, where he opened a law partnership with
Charles T. Ransom and grew the firm into one of the most prestigious and wealthy in the
Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
.
Edmonds successfully practiced law in Iowa for 19 years, but in 1875 his poor health force him to relocate to
Washington, D.C., where he settled into a retirement from the legal practice but remained a sought-after consultant for other attorneys in the city.
When former
Louisiana Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Joseph Rodman West
Joseph Rodman West (September 19, 1822 – October 31, 1898) was a United States senator from Louisiana, a Union general in the United States Army during and after the American Civil War and the chief executive of the District of Columbia. As a ...
resigned from the D.C. Board of Commissioners in 1883,
President Chester A. Arthur nominated Edmonds to serve as the board's
Democratic commissioner and he served as President of the commission. Edmonds served as president of the commission from March 3, 1883, to April 1, 1886, at which time both his presidency and his term as a commissioner expired. President
Grover Cleveland offered him reappointment, but Edmonds turned it down. According to ''
The Washington Post'', "Mr. Edmonds was one of the most efficient and popular officials of those who have presided over the affairs of the district, and his refusal to accept a renomination for office was greatly regretted
Edmonds died at his home on
K Street (Washington, D.C.), K Street in Washington on December 29, 1900, at the age of sixty-nine and was buried in
Rock Creek Cemetery.
James Barker Edmonds Elementary School in
Washington, DC was named in his honor in 1903. It closed in the 1970s and was occupied at various times by a credit union, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, the Associates for Renewal in Education and a daycare center. In 2014 it became a condominium known as the Edmonds School.
Sources
http://www.rootsweb.com/~iabiog/iastbios/ih1885/ih1885-e.htm- Contains Edmonds' obituary from ''The Washington Post''.
1832 births
1900 deaths
Mayors of Washington, D.C.
Members of the Board of Commissioners for the District of Columbia
Washington, D.C., Republicans
Washington, D.C., Democrats
19th-century American politicians
Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery
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