Mayor of Wichita, Kansas

Mayor of the City of Wichita
Flag of Wichita
Incumbent Lily Wu since January 8, 2024
Term length	Four years, renewable once
Inaugural holder	Edwin Bird Allen
Formation	1871
Website	Mayor's Office

The mayor of the City of Wichita is the head of the executive branch of the Wichita, Kansas city government. The mayor serves a four-year term and is limited to two successive terms.^[1]

List

Following is a list of mayors of the American city of Wichita, Kansas.^[2] As of 2024, there have been 81 people who have served as mayor of Wichita in 103 administrations excluding one honorary mayor.

Number	Person	Image	Mayor	Years	Notes
1	1		Edwin Bird Allen	1871–1872	Elder brother of mayor Joseph P. Allen[3]
2	2		James G. Hope (1st term)	1873–1874	[3]
3	3		George E. Harris	1875	[3]
4	(2)		James G. Hope (2nd term)	1876–1877	[3]
5	4		William Greiffenstein (1st term)	1878	[3]
6	5		Sol H. Kohn	1879	First Jewish mayor of Wichita[3]
7	(4)		William Greiffenstein (2nd term)	1879–1884	[3]
8	6		Benajah W. Aldrich	1885–1886	[3]
9	7		Joseph P. Allen	1887–1888	[3]
10	8		George W. Clement	1889–1890	[3]
11	9		John B. Carey	1891–1892	[3]
12	10		Lindley Murray Cox	1893–1896	[3]
13	11		Finlay Ross (1st term)	1897–1900	[3]
14	12		Benjamin Franklin McLean (1st term)	1901–1904	[4][3]
15	(11)		Finlay Ross (2nd term)	1905–1906	[3]
16	13		John H. Graham (1st term)	1907–1908	[3]
17	14		Charles Lock Davidson	1909–1910	[3]
18	(13)		John H. Graham (2nd term)	April 1911 – Sept 1911	Lost recall election in September 1911[3]
19	15		William Walter Minick	1911–1912	[3]
20	16		William Jasper Babb	1913–1914	[3]
21	17		Orsemus Hills Bentley	1915–1916	[3]
22	18		Lewis William Clapp	1917–1919	Resigned on October 3, 1919 to become City Manager[5]
23	19		John Lee Powell	1919–1920	[5]
24	20		Wallace C. Kemp	1921–1922	[5]
25	21		George Henry Hamilton	1922	[5]
26	22		William Coffin Coleman	1922–1923	[5]
27	(12)		Benjamin Franklin McLean (2nd term)	1923–1924	[5]
28	23		Frank Leslie Dunn (1st term)	1924–1925	[5]
29	24		Ben F. Copley	1925–1926	[5]
30	25		Frank Nighswonger (1st term)	1926–1927	[5]
31	26		A.J. Coombs	1927–1928	[5]
32	(23)		Frank Leslie Dunn (2nd term)	1928–1929	[5]
33	27		Charles S. Lawrence (1st term)	1929–1930	[5]
34	28		Herman A. Hill	1930–1931	[5]
35	(25)		Frank Nighswonger (2nd term)	1931–1932	[5]
36	29		Harry D. Cottman	1932–1933	[5]
37	(27)		Charles S. Lawrence (2nd term)	1933–1934	[5]
38	30		James Schuyler Crawford	1934–1935	[5]
39	(25)		Frank Nighswonger (3rd term)	1935–1936	[5]
40	31		Robert E. Israel	1936–1937	[5]
41	32		T. Walker Weaver	1937–1938	[5]
42	33		Elmer R. Corn (1st term)	1938–1939	[5]
43	34		Frank W. Coleman (1st term)	1939–1940	[5]
44	(33)		Elmer R. Corn (2nd term)	1940–1941	[5]
45	35		John I. Dotson	1941–1942	[5]
46	36		Odom Farrell Sullivan	1942–1943	[5]
47	37		Eugene Calendar Moriarty	1943–1944	[5]
48	38		Herman William Beuttel	1944–1945	[5]
49	39		Phil H. Manning	1945–1946	[5]
50	(34)		Frank W. Coleman (2nd term)	1946–1947	[5]
51	40		Charles S. Ritchie	1947–1948	[5]
52	41		Louis August Donnell (1st term)	1948–1949	[5]
53	42		William Christian Salome, Jr. (1st term)	1949–1950	[5]
54	43		Earl K. Duke	1950–1951
55	44		Floyd Throckmorton Amsden	1951–1952
56	45		Frank Russell Jump	1952–1953
57	46		Walter M. Keeler	1953–1954
58	(42)		William Christian Salome Jr.	1954 (2nd term)	[5]
59	(41)		Louis August Donnell (2nd term)	1954–1955	[5]
60	47		Claude M. DeVorss	1955–1956
61	48		Hugh David Lester	1956
62	49		Alfred E. Howse	1956–1957
63	50		Elzie E. Baird	1957–1958
64	51		James L. Gardner	1958–1959
65	52		Justus H. Fugate	1959–1960
66	53		Levi Budd Rymph	1960–1961
67	54		Herbert Piper Lindsley	1961–1962
68	55		Carl A. Bell, Jr.	1962–1963
69	56		Gerald F. Byrd	1963–1964
70	57		Vincent L. Bogart	1964–1965
71	58		William D. Tarrant	1965–1966
72	59		John S. Stevens	1966–1967
73	60		Clarence Eldert Vollmer	1967–1968
74	61		William D. Anderson Jr.	1968–1969
75	62		Donald K. Enoch	1969–1970
76	63		A. Price Woodard Jr.	1970–1971	First African–American mayor.[6]
77	64		Jack H. Greene	1971–1972
78	65		Glenn J. "Jack" Shanahan	1972–1973
79	66		James M. Donnell (1st term)	1973–1974
80	67		Garry L. Porter	1974–1975
81	68		Connie Ames Peters Kennard (1st term)	1975–1976	First woman commissioner and first woman mayor[7]
82	(66)		James M. Donnell (2nd term)	1976–1977
83	69		Antonio F. "Tony" Casado (1st term)	1977–1978	First Latino (Cuban) mayor of Wichita
84	(68)		Connie Ames Peters Kennard (2nd term)	1978–1979
85	(69)		Antonio F. "Tony" Casado (2nd term)	1979–1980
86	70		Robert G. Knight (1st term)	1980–1981
87	71		Robert C. Brown (1st term)	1981–1982
88	72		Albert J. Kirk	1982–1983
89	73		Margalee Wright	1983–1984
90	(70)		Robert G. Knight (2nd term)	1984– April 9, 1985
x	x		Kathlien Edmiston (honorary)	April 9, 1985 – April 9, 1985	Edmiston was elected in a 3-1 vote to the City Commission on February 12, 1985 to serve the remaining two-month term through April 9 of commissioner Margalee Wright who resigned to serve on the Kansas Corporation Commission.[8] Mayor Robert Knight resigned on April 2, 1985[9] in order for Edmiston to hold the office of mayor until the swearing of two new commissioners[10] so that she might have the honor of serving as mayor. Knight was unaware that he was required to provide a week's notice making April 9 the earliest she could be sworn in, the same day the new commissioners took office. She was sworn in on April 9.[10] After the newly elected commissioners were sworn in shortly after, a vote was held and Robert C. Brown was elected as the next mayor.[10] Edmiston held the office of mayor for approximately 30 minutes.[10]
91	(71)		Robert C. Brown (2nd term)	1985–1986
92	(69)		Antonio F. "Tony" Casado (3rd term)	1986–1987
93	(70)		Robert G. Knight (3rd term)	1987–1988
94	74		Sheldon Kamen	1988–1989
95	(70)		Robert G. Knight (4th term)	1989–1992
96	75		Frank M. Ojile	1992–1993
97	76		Elma Broadfoot	1993–1995	[11][12]
98	(70)		Robert G. Knight (5th term)	1995–2003
99	77		Carlos Mayans	2003–2007
100	78		Carl Brewer	2007–2015	First elected African–American mayor
101	79		Jeff Longwell	2015–2020
102	80		Brandon Whipple	2020–2024
103	81		Lily Wu	2024-Present	First elected Asian-American mayor

See also

• List of people from Wichita, Kansas

References

1. "City of Wichita City Council". City of Wichita. Archived from the original on October 20, 2023. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 6, 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2012.
3. "Previous Wichita Mayors 1871–1916". wichitagov.org. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008 – via Wayback Machine.
4. "A Woodstock boy who has Prospered in the West". Dispatch Newspaper. August 20, 1902.
5. "Previous Wichita Mayors 1917–1950". wichitagov.org. Archived from the original on February 20, 2013 – via Wayback Machine.
6. "A. Price Woodard Elected Wichita's First Negro Mayor". The Catholic Advance . April 23, 1970 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Kirk, Wright, Gerling, Kennard In The City Commission Primary". The Wichita Eagle. March 1, 1981 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Kathlien Edmiston to fill unexpired term". The Wichita Eagle. February 13, 1985 – via Newspapers.com.
9. Polczinski, Al (April 3, 1985). "She May Be Mayor for a Day". The Wichita Eagle – via Newspapers.com.
10. "Wichita Mayors Steal the Show - Gavel passed from Knight to Edmiston, Then Brown". The Wichita Eagle. April 10, 1985. pp. 1D, 9D – via Newspapers.com.
11. Kempin, Sarah (May 14, 1987). "She's Boss of the River - Broadfoot Says Festival Has Personality". The Wichita Eagle. pp. 14A, 15A – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Ks. Newman gives awards to two alumni June 16". The Catholic Advance . June 21, 1984 – via Newspapers.com.

Further reading

See also: List of books about Sedgwick County, Kansas