About Chicago
George Bell Swift
28th Mayor of Chicago
Frank, S.B. Chicago: Memorable Events and the Mayors We’ve Had. S.B. Frank, 1894. SPE CCW 41/14
Party
- Republican
Elected
- First term:
- Elected pro-tem mayor by City Council on November 6, 1893 pending a special election
- Second term:
- April 2, 1895
- Defeated Arthur J. Bassett (Prohibition), Bayard Holmes (People’s Party), Ebenezer Wakely (Free Silver) and Frank Wenter (Democrat)
- April 2, 1895
Inaugurations
- First term: November 9, 1893: Inaugural Address
- Second term: April 8, 1895: Inaugural Address
Terms of Office
- First term: 1893
- Second term: 1895–1897
Birth
- December 14, 1845
- Cincinnati
Personal
- Childhood friend of Hempstead Washburne in Galena, Ill.
- Married Miss Lucy L. Brown; together they had six children
- Graduated from the University of Chicago
- Worked as a drug clerk, later in manufacturing
- Served as alderman from the 11th Ward
- 1885: President Arthur appointed him special agent of the treasury
- 1887: Appointed commissioner of public works
- After mayoral terms, he started a contracting firm, George B. Swift Company; he also served as president of Frazer Lubricator Company and of Swift Fuel Company
- 1911: Appointed to Board of Education
Death
- July 2, 1912: “G.B. Swift, Former Chicago Mayor, Dies.” Chicago Examiner, July 3, 1912.
- Chicago
Gravesite
- Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago
Sources
- Chicago Daily Tribune, November 7, 1893, p. 1.
- Chicago Daily Tribune, July 3, 1912, p. 15.
- Chicago Daily Tribune, July 5, 1912, p. 17.
- Grossman, James R., Ann Durkin Keating and Janice L. Reiff, editors. Encyclopedia of Chicago. University of Chicago Press, 2004.