Victor J. Miller (December 6, 1888 in

Joplin, Missouri Joplin is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, Jasper and Newton County, Missouri, Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. J ...

– January 6, 1955 in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

) was the 33rd

Mayor of Saint Louis The mayor of St. Louis is the chief executive officer of St. Louis's city government. The mayor has a duty to enforce city ordinances and the power to either approve or veto city ordinances passed by the Board of Aldermen. The current mayor i ...

, serving from 1925 to 1933. Miller grew up in Joplin and attended the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

. He graduated from Washington University Law School, and began practicing law in St. Louis. In 1921, Governor Arthur M. Hyde appointed Miller President of the St. Louis Police Board. When he took office, the force included only six African-American officers—Negro specials—who were not allowed to wear uniforms. In his first year in office, hired fifteen African Americans and, like other officers, required them to wear uniforms. He served in that position until 1923. In 1924, Miller was a Republican candidate for Governor of Missouri. He was defeated by Sam Aaron Baker, but carried St. Louis in the race. After his strong performance in St. Louis during the 1924 Governor's election, Miller ran for Mayor of the City in 1925, and was elected at the age of 36. He was re-elected in 1929. Several major public works projects approved by voters in a 1923 bond issue were completed during Miller's administration, including the construction of the Civil Courts Building. One of these public works projects, an $8,000,000 street lighting initiative led to charges of graft and corruption in city government. An investigation by the

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...

found that the lighting contractor, A.M Ryckoff of

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, had overcharged the city by more than $150,000. Ryckoff and two city employees were indicted, but Ryckoff died before the matter came to trial, and charges were dropped against the city employees. At the conclusion of his term as Mayor, Miller left St. Louis. He went to New York, then later to Kentucky, finally settling in Kansas City. He died in Kansas City on January 6, 1955 and was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Joplin, Missouri.

References

* Much of the original content for this article was based on the brief biographies of St. Louis Mayors found at the St. Louis Public Library's website, https://web.archive.org/web/20041013215851/http://exhibits.slpl.lib.mo.us/mayors/mayors3.asp. The information about black police officers comes from police commissioners' annual reports and the ''St. Louis Argus'' of August 26, 1921, page 1. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Victor J. 1888 births 1955 deaths Politicians from Joplin, Missouri Mayors of St. Louis Washington University School of Law alumni University of Missouri alumni 20th-century American politicians Washington University in St. Louis alumni