Robert Taylor Conrad (June 10, 1810 – June 27, 1858) was an American politician, lawyer and writer from Pennsylvania who served as mayor of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

from 1854 to 1856. He was the first mayor of Philadelphia after the Consolidation Act of 1854.

Life and politics

He was the son of a publisher of Philadelphia, was educated for the bar, and attained a high reputation as a political speaker, and as an editor and poet. Before he was 21, he wrote a tragedy, ''Conradin'', and in 1832 published the ''Daily Commercial Intelligencer'', which was merged into the ''Philadelphia Gazette''. Abandoning this occupation from failing health in 1834, he returned to the law, became recorder, and in 1838 judge of the criminal sessions for the city and county of Philadelphia. When the latter court was dissolved, he resumed the pen, edited ''

Graham's Magazine ''Graham's Magazine'' was a nineteenth-century periodical based in Philadelphia established by George Rex Graham and published from 1840 to 1858. It was alternatively referred to as ''Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine'' (1841–1842, and J ...

'', and became associate editor of the ''

North American Review The ''North American Review'' (NAR) was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which it was inactive until revived at ...

''. Conrad was

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

(part-time judge) for the suburban township of

Northern Liberties Northern Liberties is a neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Prior to its incorporation into Philadelphia in 1854, it was among the top 10 largest cities in the U.S. in every census from 1790 to 1850. Boundaries Northern Liberties is loc ...

, which became part of the city under the Consolidation Act of 1854. In the 1854 Philadelphia mayoral election, Conrad was the nominee of both the Whigs and

Know Nothings The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...

(later known as the American Party). He won in a landslide, riding a wave of nativist sentiment that swept the United States in the mid-1850s."Obituary. Death of two distinguished Philadelphians"
''New York Times'', June 30, 1858. p. 2. In 1856 he was appointed to the bench of the quarter sessions, serving in that capacity until 1857. In literature he is best known by the tragedy of ''Aylmere'', purchased by

Edwin Forrest Edwin Forrest (March 9, 1806December 12, 1872) was a prominent nineteenth-century American Shakespearean actor. His feud with the British actor William Macready was the cause of the deadly Astor Place Riot of 1849. Early life Forrest was born i ...

, in which that actor played the part of

Jack Cade Jack Cade's Rebellion was a popular revolt in 1450 against the government of England, which took place in the south-east of the country between the months of April and July. It stemmed from local grievances regarding the corruption, maladmin ...

. The play was said to be "one of the few American tragedies to hold the stage." In 1852 Judge Conrad published a volume entitled ''Aylmere, or the Bondman of Kent, and other Poems'', the principal poems being "The Sons of the Wilderness," a meditative poem on the wrongs and misfortunes of the

North American Indians The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...

, and a series of sonnets on the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gos ...

. Another tragedy that he wrote, ''The Heretic'', was never acted, nor published. Conrad lived in

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...

(at the corner of Lancaster Road and Market Street) at a time when that part of the city was largely uninhabited. Conrad was the son-in-law of U.S. Representative Thomas Kittera. Robert T

He died on June 17, 1858, and was interred at

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery is ...

in Philadelphia.

Legacy

The Robert T. Conrad public school in Philadelphia was named in his honor.

Notes

External links

* *
Robert T. Conrad. First Mayor of the Consolidated City of Philadelphia (an 1854 engraving of Conrad by John Sartain)

Oration delivered by the Hon. Robert T. Conrad, at the celebration of the anniversary of American independence by the Philadelphia Repeal Association, at the Arch Street Theatre, July 5, 1841.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conrad, Robert T. 1810 births 1858 deaths 19th-century American dramatists and playwrights 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) 19th-century American poets 19th-century American politicians American magazine editors American male writers Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Lawyers from Philadelphia Mayors of Philadelphia Pennsylvania Know Nothings Pennsylvania Whigs Poets from Pennsylvania Recorder (judge) Writers from Philadelphia 19th-century American lawyers