List of mayors of Fall River, Massachusetts

Fall River Government Center

This is a list of mayors of the City of Fall River, Massachusetts, from 1854 to present. Fall River was led by a three-member Board of Selectmen from 1803 until its re-incorporation as a city in 1854.

From 1854 until 1902, mayoral elections were held every year and mayors served one-year terms. In 1902, the mayoral term was increased to two years, which lasted until the city charter was changed in 1965. That year, the mayoral term was again increased, this time to a four-year term. This change would be overturned by voters in 1973 and a two-year term was reinstated.

The mayor's office is located at Fall River Government Center.

Mayoral chronology

As of March 2019 ^[update] , there have been 44 mayors and three acting mayors. Non-consecutive terms by the same person are counted separately (for example, John W. Cummings was both the 14th and 16th mayor). Number of mayors, ranked by party affiliation:

Party	Number		Most recent officeholder
	Mayor	Acting
Democratic	23	3	Paul E. Coogan (2020–present)
Republican	19	1	Alexander C. Murray (1935–1945)
Independent	1	—	Daniel F. Sullivan (1931–1932)
Whig	1	—	Nathaniel B. Borden (1857–1858)
American	1	—	James Buffington (1854–1855)

List of Mayors ^[1]

#	Mayor	Picture	Term	Notes
1st	James Buffington		May 15, 1854–1855 [2]	Previously a selectman from 1851 until establishment of the city.
2nd	Edward P. Buffinton		1856–1857
3rd	Nathaniel B. Borden		1857–1858	Previously a selectman from 1840 to 1841.
4th	Josiah C. Blaisdell		1858–1860
5th	Edward P. Buffinton		1860–1867
6th	George O. Fairbanks		1867–1869	Previously a selectman [3] from 1852 until 1854.
7th	Samuel M. Brown		1869–1873
8th	Robert T. Davis		1873–1874
9th	James F. Davenport		1874–1877
10th	Crawford E. Lindsey		1878–1879
11th	William S. Greene		1880 – March 28, 1881	Resigned.
Acting	Robert Henry		1881–1881	Elected by the city council.
12th	Henry K. Braley		1882–1883
13th	Milton Reed		1884–1884
14th	John W. Cummings		1885–1885
15th	William S. Greene		1886–1886
16th	John W. Cummings		1887–1888
17th	James Frederick Jackson		1889–1890
18th	John W. Coughlin		1891–1894
19th	William S. Greene		1895–1897
20th	Amos M. Jackson		1898–1899
21st	John H. Abbott		1900–1901
22nd	George Grime		1902–1904	Sitting in 1902.
23rd	John T. Coughlin		1905–1910
24th	Thomas F. Higgins		1911–1913
25th	James H. Kay		January 5, 1913 – 1923
26th	Edmond P. Talbot		1923–1926	Sitting in 1923. [4] First mayor of French-Canadian descent.
27th	W. Harry Monks		1927–1928
28th	Edmond P. Talbot		1929–1930	First mayor under city manager form of government.
29th	Daniel F. Sullivan		1931–1932
30th	Joseph Leo Hurley		1933–1934	Final mayor under city manager form of government.
31st	Alexander C. Murray		1935–1945
32nd	William P. Grant		1946–1951
33rd	John F. Kane		1952–1957
34th	John M. Arruda		1958–1963	First mayor of Portuguese descent.
35th	Roland G. Desmarais		1964–1967
36th	Nicholas W. Mitchell		1968–1971
37th	Wilfred C. Driscoll		1972–1978
38th	Carlton M. Viveiros		1978 – December 23, 1990	Resigned to become clerk-magistrate of the Southeastern District Housing Court. [5]
Acting	Daniel Bogan		December 23, 1990 – June 25, 1991	Acting mayor. [5]
39th	John R. Mitchell		June 25, 1991 – January 1996	[5]
40th	Edward M. Lambert Jr.		January 1996 – October 26, 2007	Resigned to accept a position at the University of Massachusetts. [6]
Acting	William F. Whitty		October 26, 2007 – January 7, 2008	Acting mayor. [6]
41st	Robert Correia		January 7, 2008 – January 4, 2010	Lost re-election bid when he finished third in a field of six in the preliminary election.
42nd	William A. Flanagan		January 4, 2010 – December 29, 2014	Lost recall election held on December 16, 2014. [7] [8]
43rd	Sam Sutter		December 29, 2014 – January 4, 2016	Elected mayor on the same ballot that recalled William Flanagan. [9] Lost election to a full term in November 2015. [10]
44th	Jasiel Correia		January 4, 2016 – January 6, 2020	Youngest mayor elected at 23 years old. First mayor of Cape Verdean descent. Recalled yet re-elected on March 12, 2019. [11] Lost re-election in November, 2019.
Acting	Clifford Ponte		October 16, 2019 – January 6, 2020	As President of the Fall River City Council, Ponte became Acting Mayor when Mayor Jasiel Correia took a leave of absence. [12]
45th	Paul E. Coogan		January 6, 2020	Elected mayor in November 2019. [13]

City managers

Fall River had a city manager from 1929 until 1935.

#	City manager	Picture	Term	Notes
1st	Edward F. Harrington		1929–1931
2nd	J. Walter Ackerman		1931–1933
3rd	Alexander C. Murray		1933–1935	Served as mayor upon abolition of office.

See also

• List of selectmen of Fall River, Massachusetts
• History of Fall River, Massachusetts

References

1. Information for 1803–1877 taken from A Centennial History of Fall River, Mass. by Henry H. Earl, 1877.
2. Fenner, Henry M. (1911). History of Fall River, Massachusetts (PDF) (Report). Fall River Merchants Association. p. 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 1, 2011 – via Wayback Machine.
3. New England historic Genealogical Society (1905), Memorial biographies of the New England historic genealogical society v. 6, Boston, MA: The New England Historic Genealogical Society, p. 95.
4. A History of the Town of Freetown, Massachusetts: "Old Home Festival". Assonet Village Improvement Society: 1902
5. Holtzman, Michael. "Dual roles await Witty Archived May 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine ". Fall River Herald News . October 12, 2007
6. Holtzman, Michael. "Mayor seeks election help Archived May 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine ". Fall River Herald News . October 12, 2007
7. Richmond, Will (December 28, 2014). "The mayoral recall petitioners named Herald News' 2014 Newsmaker of the Year". The Herald News . Fall River, Massachusetts . Retrieved March 21, 2019.
8. "Will Flanagan recall, Fall River, Massachusetts". ballotpedia.org. 2014. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
9. Goode, Jo C. (December 17, 2014). "Fall River mayor ousted, Bristol DA Sam Sutter elected". The Herald News . Fall River, Massachusetts . Retrieved March 21, 2019.
10. "Correia tops Sutter to win mayoral race". heraldnews.com. November 3, 2015.
11. Crimaldi, Laura (March 13, 2019). "Correia remains Fall River mayor in election stunner" . The Boston Globe . Retrieved March 13, 2019.
12. Goode, Jo C. "Day 1: Ponte takes reins as Fall River's acting mayor". The Herald News .
13. "Coogan sails to easy victory in Fall River mayoral race". The Herald News . Fall River, Massachusetts. November 5, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.