List of mayors of Lawrence, Massachusetts

The Mayor of Lawrence is the head of the municipal government in Lawrence, Massachusetts. There was no Mayor of Lawrence from April 14, 1847 until March 21, 1853, because up to that point Lawrence was still incorporated as a town. The Town of Lawrence was administered by the Board of Selectmen.

Mayor of Lawrence
Flag of Lawrence
Incumbent Brian De Peña since November 12, 2021
Style	His/Her Honor
Type	Chief executive
Member of	School Committee
Residence	None official
Seat	Lawrence City Hall
Nominator	Non-partisan nominating petition
Appointer	Popular vote
Term length	Four years
Constituting instrument	Lawrence City Charter
Precursor	Lawrence Board of Selectmen (1847-1853)
Formation	1853
First holder	Charles Storer Storrow
Website	www.cityoflawrence.com/27/Office-of-The-Mayor

List of mayors

#	Mayor	Picture	Term	Party	Notes
1st	Charles Storer Storrow		1853–1854	Whig	First mayor under the original city charter.
2nd	Enoch Bartlett		1854–1855	Democratic
3rd	Albert Warren		1855–1857	Native American Party
4th	John R. Rollins		1857–1859	Whig
5th	Henry K. Oliver		1859–1860	Republican
6th	Daniel Saunders, Jr.		1860–1861	Democratic	Saunders was the founder of Lawrence.
7th	James K. Barker		1861–1862	Republican
8th	William H. P. Wright		1862–1864	Republican
9th	Alfred J. French		1864–1865	Republican
10th	Milton Bonney		1865–January 1, 1866	Republican
11th	Pardon Armington		January 1, 1866–1867	Republican
12th	Nathaniel P. H. Melvin		1867–1869	Democratic
13th	Frank Davis		1869–January 3, 1870	Republican
14th	Nathaniel P. H. Melvin		January 3, 1870–1871	Democratic
15th	S. B. W. Davis		1871–1872	Republican
16th	John K. Tarbox		1873–January 4, 1875	Democratic
17th	Robert H. Tewksbury		January 4, 1875–January 3, 1876	Republican
18th	Edmund R. Hayden		January 3, 1876–1876	Democratic
19th	Caleb Saunders		January 1, 1877–1877	Democratic
20th	James R. Simpson		1878–1880	Republican
21st	Henry Kingman Webster		1881–1881	Republican
22nd	John Breen		1882–1884	Democratic	First Irish born or Roman Catholic Mayor in New England.
23rd	James R. Simpson		1885–1885	Republican
24th	Alexander B. Bruce		1886–1887	Democratic
25th	Alvin E. Mack		1888–1889	Republican
26th	John W. Crawford		1890–1890	Democratic
27th	Lewis P. Collins		1891–1891	Republican
28th	Henry P. Doe		1892–1892	Democratic
29th	Alvin E. Mack		1893–1893	Republican
30th	Charles G. Rutter		1894–1895	Democratic
31st	George S. Junkins		1896–1897	Republican
32nd	James H. Eaton		1898–1899	Republican
33rd	James F. Leonard		1900–1902	Democratic
34th	Alexander F. Grany		1903–January 4, 1904
35th	Cornelius F. Lynch		January 4, 1904–1905
36th	John P. Kane		1906–1908
37th	William P. White		1909–July 25, 1910		Resigned after he was convicted on bribery charges and sentenced to three years in the house of correction. White's resignation was effective when accepted by both branches of the city council on July 25, 1910.
Acting	Thomas M. Jordan		July 25, 1910–August 29, 1910		Served as acting mayor in his role as chairman of the board of aldermen.
38th	John T. Cahill		August 29, 1910–January 1, 1912	Democratic	Elected by a joint session of the city council to fill the vacancy caused by White's resignation.
39th	Michael A. Scanlon		January 1, 1912–August 16, 1914		A new city charter went into effect on January 1, 1912, creating a commission form of government and giving the mayor a two-year term beginning with Scanlon. On January 15, 1912, Scanlon requested the state militia to suppress the 'Bread and Roses strike', resulting in the death of a striker. On February 24, 1912, Scanlon ordered police to prevent striking workers' children from traveling to Washington, D.C., for a protest march. The mothers and children were beaten as they gathered at the train station. Scanlon died in office.
40th	John P. Kane		1914–1915		To fill vacancy
41st	John J. Hurley		1916–1919
42nd	William P. White		1920–1921
43rd	Daniel W. Mahoney		1922–1923
44th	Walter T. Rochefort		1924–1928
45th	Michael A. Landers		1928–1931
46th	William P. White		1932–1933
47th	Walter A. Griffin		1934–1942
48th	James P. Meehan		1942–1951	Democratic
49th	John J. Buckley		1952–1965	Democratic
50th	Daniel P. Kiley, Jr.		1966–1971
51st	John J. Buckley		1972–1977	Democratic
52nd	Lawrence P. LeFebre		1978–1983	Democratic
53rd	John J. Buckley		1984-January 2, 1986	Democratic
54th	Kevin J. Sullivan		January 2, 1986–1991	Democratic	Switched from Democrat to Republican
			1991–1993	Republican	Resigned to accept an appointment as head of State Transportation
Acting	George Miller		1993
Acting	Leonard J. Degnan		1993	Democratic
55th	Mary Claire Kennedy		1993–1998	Republican
56th	Patricia Dowling		1998–2001	Democratic	Resigned to accept an appointment as a state district court judge.
Acting	Marcos Devers		September 2001 – November, 2001	Democratic	First Hispanic mayor of Lawrence.
57th	Michael J. Sullivan		November 2001 - January 4, 2010	Republican
58th	William Lantigua		January 4, 2010 – January 4, 2014	Democratic
59th	Dan Rivera		January 4, 2014 - January 9, 2021	Democratic
Acting	Kendrys Vasquez		January 9, 2021 – November 12, 2021	Democratic
60th	Brian De Peña		November 12, 2021 -	Democratic

References

• Arrington, Benjamin F. Arrington: Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts, Volume 2 (1922).
• Hayes, Jonathan Franklin Chesley: History of the city of Lawrence, Lawrence, Ma.: (1868).
• Merrill, C.G.: The Lawrence gazetteer : containing a record of the important events in Lawrence and vicinity from 1845 to 1894, also, a history of the corporations, industrial establishments, churches, societies, clubs, and other organizations; national, state and municipal statistics, and a variety of useful information (1894).
• Wadsworth, Horace Andrew, History of Lawrence, Massachusetts: with Portraits and Biographical Sketches, Lawrence, Ma.: Lawrence Eagle Steam Job Printing Office. (1880).