It’s time to go to the polls again. This year, voters in the City of Erie will be electing a new mayor. The new mayor will be joining a long list of interesting people who have held that job over the last 174 years.
The history of Erie mayoral elections has brought me to the fifth floor of City Hall. I’m standing before a wall that has photographs of all the mayors who served the City of Erie. I’m sure there are a lot of stories about these mayors that describe their honor and distinction. However, I want to tell a few stories that are a little unusual and fun.
I’m finding those stories in a book titled Erie, Pennsylvania Mayors, 150 Years of Political History written by Dr. William P. Garvey. Let’s start with William L. Scott, a millionaire, first elected to a one-year term in 1866. He owned a racehorse farm that stretched to the entrance of Presque Isle. The city decided to build a streetcar line from downtown to Presque Isle. However, Mayor Scott believed the streetcars would spook his horses. So, the section of line onto the park was not built. Passengers had to exit the streetcar on 8th Street and Pittsburgh Avenue and walk almost four miles to the peninsula…