Louis Schwartz (April 15, 1888 – July 18, 1966) was a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

politician from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

who served in the Pennsylvania state legislature and the Philadelphia City Council. Schwartz was born in 1888 in Galați,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. He emigrated with his parents and siblings to the United States in 1900, settling in Philadelphia. His father was a shoemaker, and Schwartz followed him into that business before taking classes to earn his real estate license. He started his own real estate business, which quickly became successful. He married Jennie Stern in 1911, with whom he had two children. Schwartz and his family were members of Kneses Israel Anshe S'fard synagogue in Philadelphia. In the 1920s, Republican ward leader David H. Lane mentored Schwartz in the world of the Philadelphia Republican Party, which was dominant in city politics at that time. Schwartz was elected in 1926 to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and served there for four consecutive terms. While there he worked for reform of the state's

Blue Laws Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws and Sunday closing laws, are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world. The laws were adopted originally for religious reasons, ...

, bringing Sunday baseball and movies to Pennsylvania for the first time. In 1928, he was also elected leader of the 20th ward, a position he held until 1957. In 1935, he announced plans to run for Mayor of Philadelphia, but ultimately decided on a city council seat instead. He was elected along with Frederic D. Garman to represent the 5th district, which sent two members to City Council under the 1919 city charter; Republicans won all 22 seats in council that year. In 1939, he and Garman were re-elected easily. The pair were returned to office in 1943 and 1947 as their party continued to dominate city politics. By 1951, that dominance was waning as a new city charter endorsed by Democrats and independent reformers took effect. Schwartz ran for one of the new at-large seats on the council and won the most votes of any of the candidates in the Republican primary that year. For the seven at-large seats, each party could nominate five candidates, and voters could only vote for five, with the result being that the majority party could only take five of the seven seats, leaving two for the minority party; although the Democrats took the top five slots, Schwartz led the five Republicans, entitling him to one of the two minority party positions. He was re-elected in 1955, again leading all Republicans in the at-large vote. Schwartz stepped down as ward leader in 1957, part of a breach with party leadership over the selection of candidates for magistrate in the election that year. In 1959, now in his seventies, Schwartz announced that he would not seek re-election to a seventh city council term. He retired to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and died there in 1966.

Sources

References

Book * Newspapers * * * * * * Website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartz, Louis 1888 births 1966 deaths People from Galați American people of Romanian-Jewish descent Romanian emigrants to the United States Republican Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Philadelphia City Council members 20th-century American politicians