Thomas Dyer (January 13, 1805June 6, 1862) served as mayor of Chicago,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
(
1856
Events
January–March
* January 8 – Borax deposits are discovered in large quantities by John Veatch in California.
* January 23 – American paddle steamer SS ''Pacific'' leaves Liverpool (England) for a transatlantic voya ...
–1857) for the
Democratic Party. He also served as the founding president of the
Chicago Board of Trade
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), established on April 3, 1848, is one of the world's oldest futures and options exchanges. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and three other exch ...
.
Biography
Thomas Dyer was born in
Canton, Connecticut
Canton is a town, incorporated in 1806, located in the Farmington Valley section of Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 10,124 as of the 2020 census. It is bordered by Granby on the north, Simsbury on the east, Avon a ...
on January 13, 1805.
He was a meat-packing partner of former mayor
John Putnam Chapin, who was one of Chicago's first
meat packers
The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally ...
. Chapin built a
slaughterhouse
A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility.
Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...
on the South Branch of the
Chicago River
The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons fo ...
in 1844.
Running as a "pro-
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
" Democrat (aligned with
Stephen A. Douglas, who publicly backed his candidacy), Dyer won the contentious
1856 Chicago mayoral election
In the 1856 Mayoral elections in Chicago, Chicago mayoral election, Thomas Dyer defeated former mayor Francis Cornwall Sherman. The race was shaped by the divisive national political debate surrounding the issue of Slavery in the United States, ...
, defeating former mayor
Francis Cornwall Sherman (who ran as an
anti-Nebraska candidate).
[Property Rules: Political Economy in Chicago, 1833-1872 by Robin L. Einhorn]
He died in
Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States, Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, it is south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated by English settlers as a town under its ...
on June 6, 1862, and was buried at
Graceland Cemetery
Graceland Cemetery is a large historic garden cemetery located in the north side community area of Uptown, in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Established in 1860, its main entrance is at the intersection of Clark Street and Ir ...
in Chicago.
[
]
References
External links
Inaugural Address
Biography of Mayor Dyer at Chicago Public Library site
1805 births
1862 deaths
Mayors of Chicago
19th-century American politicians
Meat industry
Meat processing in the United States
Burials at Graceland Cemetery (Chicago)
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