George Bell Swift (December 14, 1845July 2, 1912; buried in

Rosehill Cemetery Rosehill Cemetery (founded 1859) is an American garden cemetery on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois, and at , is the largest cemetery in the City of Chicago. According to legend, the name "Rosehill" resulted from a City Clerk's error – the ar ...

) served as mayor of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

(1893; 1895–1897) for the Republican Party. He was selected to replace the assassinated

Carter Harrison, Sr. Carter Henry Harrison Sr. (February 15, 1825October 28, 1893) was an American politician who served as mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1879 until 1887; he was subsequently elected to a fifth term in 1893 but was assassinated before completing t ...

as Mayor

pro tem ''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a ''locum tenens'' (placeholder) in the absence of ...

in 1893 and lost a bid for election as mayor that year. He was elected mayor when he ran in

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

Early life and career

Swift was born in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

to Samuel W. Swift and Elizabeth Swift (born Bell). His family moved to

Galena, Illinois Galena is the largest city in and the county seat of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, with a population of 3,308 at the 2020 census. A section of the city is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Galena Historic District. The ci ...

when he was young. By his teenage years, the family was living in Chicago. Prior to serving as mayor of Chicago, Swift served two terms as an alderman from the 11th Ward (one term from 1879 to 1881 and one term from 1892 until 1894 (the latter of which he was serving during his acting mayoralty in 1893). From 1887 to 1889, he was the city's Commissioner of Public Works. Swift was a proponent of the

City Beautiful movement The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy of North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. It was a part of the ...

Acting mayoralty

After the assassination of Carter Harrison Sr., the Chicago City Council selected Swift to serve as acting mayor. Swift was sworn in as acting mayor on November 9, 1893. The following month, he lost the special election to fill the remainder of Harrison's term to Democrat John Patrick Hopkins. Hopkins took office as mayor on December 27, 1893, ending Swift's acting mayoralty.

Mayoralty

In 1895, Swift was elected mayor of Chicago, defeating Democratic nominee Frank Wenter by a broad margin. Swift was sworn in as mayor on April 8, 1895. Swift declined to seek reelection in 1897, and was succeeded by Democrat

Carter Harrison Jr. Carter Henry Harrison IV (April 23, 1860 – December 25, 1953) was an American newspaper publisher and Democratic politician who served a total of five terms as mayor of Chicago (1897–1905 and 1911–1915) but failed in his attempt to becom ...

on April 15, 1897.

References

External links

*
Mayor George Bell Swift Inaugural Address, 1895
''Chicago Public Library'' 1845 births 1912 deaths Politicians from Cincinnati Burials at Rosehill Cemetery Chicago City Council members Mayors of Chicago Illinois Republicans 19th-century American politicians {{Illinois-mayor-stub