List of mayors of Huntington, West Virginia

Mayor of Huntington, West Virginia
Incumbent Patrick Farrell since 2025
Formation	1871
First holder	Peter Cline Buffington (1871 - 1874)
Website	Mayor's Office

This is a list of mayors of Huntington, West Virginia, United States of America.^[1]

History

Since 1985 Huntington, West Virginia has operated under a strong mayor/city council form of government.^[2] The mayor is elected to four-year terms in partisan elections contested at the same time as United States presidential elections. The current mayor is Patrick Farrell, a Republican who is currently in his first term. Mayors in Huntington are term-limited to three terms^[3] and have the authority to veto acts of the city council.

Mayors

Pre strong mayor format

Order	Mayor	Term Began	Term Ended	Notes
1	Peter Cline Buffington	1871	1874	First mayor of Huntington, West Virginia[4]
2	Thomas J. Burke	1874	1876
3	M. G. Nichols	1876	1877
4	Thomas J. Burke	1877	1878
5	J. M. Layne	1878	1879
6	Edward S. Buffington	1879	1880	Son of Peter Cline Buffington[5]
7	George Cullen	1880	1882
8	J. M. Layne	1882	1883
9	Hamilton Dickey	1883	1884
10	A. L. Crider	1884	1885
11	E. A. Bennett	1885	1886
12	A. H. Woodworth	1886	1887
13	Thomas S. Garland	1887	1889
14	Thomas S. Garland	1890	1891
15	Hamilton Dickey	1891	1892
16	W. H. Bull	1892	1893
17	George I. Neal	1893	1895
18	C. R. Enlow	1895	1896
19	Ely Ensign	1896	1896	[4]
20	William F. Hite	1897	1898	[4]
21	Charles A. Nash	1898	1899
22	H. A. Brandebury	1899	1901
23	H. C. Gordon	1901	1903
24	Charles M. Buck	1903	1905
25	H. C. Gordon	1905	1906
26	John W. Ensign	1906	1908
27	John B. Stevenson	1908	1909
28	Rufus Switzer	1909	1912
29	Floyd S. Chapman	1912	1915
30	Edmund Sehon	1915	1918	[6]
31	Leon S. Wiles	1918	1918	Died in office[1]
32	Charles W. Campbell	1919	1922	[6][4]
33	Will E. Neal	1925	1928
34	J. Boyce Taylor	1928	1929	[4]
35	Porter W. Smith	1930	1934
36	Martin V. Chapman	1935	1935
37	George R. Seamonds	1937	1939
38	Claude V. Swann	1940	1942
39	Paul O. Fiedler	1943	1946
40	Douglas C. Tomkies	1947	1948
41	W. W. Payne	1949	1952
42	Cecil C. Thompson	1953	1954
43	George E. Theurer	1955	1955
44	Harold L. Frankel	1957	1959
45	Robert O. Ellis, Jr.	1959	1959
46	John J. Durkin	1961	1961
47	George Garner	1962	1963
48	A. E. Harris	1964	1964
49	John B. Meek	1965	1965
50	R. O. Robertson, Jr.	1966	1966
51	Owen L. Duncan	1967	1967
52	Gordon Miller	1968	1968
53	Robert V. Bolling	1969	1969
54	Robert E. Hinerman	1970	1970
55	Milton T. Herndon	1971	1971
56	Gordon T. Millard	1972	1972
57	Owen L. Duncan	1973	1973
58	Phyllis Cyrus	1973	1974
59	Harold L. Frankel	1974	1975	[7]
60	J. A. Caldwell	1975	1976
61	Harold L. Frankel	1977	1978	[7]
62	George Malott	1978	1978
63	Dean Sturm	1979	1980	[8]
64	William D. Toney	1981	1981
65	Robert P. Alexander	1982	1983	[9]

Strong mayor format

Order	Mayor	Term Began	Term Ended	Notes
66	Bobby Nelson	1985	1993	First mayor in Strong mayor format
67	Jean Dean	1993	2000	First woman mayor[10]
68	David Felinton	2001	2008	[11]
69	Kim Wolfe	2009	2012	[12]
70	Stephen T. Williams	2013	2025	First three-term mayor[13][14]
71	Patrick Farrell	2025	Present	[13]

See also

• Huntington, West Virginia

References

1. "Mayors and Postmasters of Huntington, West Virginia". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
2. "Huntington Charter". The Associated Press. March 27, 2006. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
3. "Incumbent Felinton wins tight race Archived September 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine", The Herald-Dispatch, May 13, 2008.
4. Huntington. Images of America. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia. 2003. ISBN 978-0-7385-1599-1. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017.
5. "Dr. Edward Stanard Buffington". Marshall Digital Scholar. 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
6. History of West Virginia, Old and New. Chicago: American Historical Society, Inc. 1923. OCLC 42346040.
7. "{l to r) Harold Frankel, Ken Hechler, David Brinkley, 1959". Marshall Digital Scholar. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
8. Casto, James (October 11, 2022). "Lost Huntington: Remembering Dean Strum". Herald Dispatch. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
9. "Dr. Robert P. Alexander (1999-2000)". Marshall University. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
10. McKenna, Horsley (July 17, 2021). "Former Huntington mayor Jean Dean dies". Herald Dispatch. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
11. Wolfe, Lori (March 12, 2017). "David Felinton, City of Huntington should reconsider a payroll tax". Herald Dispatch. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
12. "Wolfe next mayor of Huntington". Herald Dispatch. November 5, 2008.
13. "Patrick Farrell elected as Huntington mayor". WSAZ. November 5, 2024.
14. "City Government: Mayor". Cityofhuntington.com. City of Huntington. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved July 24, 2024.