Robert P. Linn (December 27, 1908 – August 22, 2004) was among the
longest-serving mayors in the United States. Linn, a
Republican, served 58 years as the mayor of
Beaver
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...
,
Pennsylvania, a
borough around northwest of
Pittsburgh.
Biography
Linn was born in
Burgettstown and grew up in Beaver. He worked for the Duquesne Light Company, and in 1945 was approached by a group of Republicans who wanted to defeat the incumbent mayor, a position then known as burgess. Initially, he did not want the job, but later gave in. Afterward he changed his mind, taking out a newspaper advertisement telling people to vote for his opponent. He won the election anyway and took office on January 2, 1946. Linn continued to serve as mayor for the next five decades. The position's original salary was $2,500 per year.
In 1995, he was officially listed in ''
Guinness Book of World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' as the longest-serving mayor in the United States; in a 2002 interview, he said his major accomplishment in office was starting Streetscape, a town beautification project that replaced concrete sidewalks with red bricks and removed
power lines from the
main street.
Linn died in his sleep at his home in 2004 at the age of 95 and in the middle of his fifteenth term. The town council appointed councilman Thomas Hamilton to replace him.
He resided in a yellow apartment on Wilson Ave.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Linn, Robert
1908 births
2004 deaths
People from Beaver, Pennsylvania
Mayors of places in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Republicans
20th-century American politicians