William Spencer Mason (May 25, 1832 – March 27, 1899)"Mayor Mason Dead; City's Executive Passed Away at 2:10 This Morning". ''

The Morning Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850 ...

'', March 27, 1899, p. 1. served as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, from 1891 to 1894 and 1898 to 1899.

Biography

Mason was born in

Prince William County, Virginia Prince William County is located on the Potomac River in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 482,204, making it Virginia's second-most populous county. Its county seat is the independent city of Manass ...

, on May 25, 1832. From humble origins, he began his career in railroads in the South and Midwest, continuing in San Francisco in the early 1870s, where he helped organize street railway companies. After moving to the Northwest, he helped construct the Northern Pacific line between Tacoma and Seattle. Moving to Portland in 1881, he established McCraken & Mason, then the W. S. Mason Company, and in 1886 converted the firm into a partnership with Edward Ehrman as Mason, Ehrman & Company, a major wholesale grocery business in the Pacific Northwest. He later was president of the Portland National Bank and vice-president of the Portland Chamber of Commerce. At the beginning of his first term as mayor, Portland consolidated with the cities of East Portland and Albina, and the city council was expanded from nine to 16 members, under a new city charter."Mason at the Helm". ''The Morning Oregonian'', July 2, 1898, p. 8. He thrived on public contact, locating his desk in the new City Hall in 1894 in public view, and oversaw the city's recovery from the major flood of that year. He began his second term as Portland mayor on July 1, 1898, but died before completing it. He began his second term by replacing the entire (corrupt) police department. He died on March 27, 1899, after an illness lasting about six weeks. He devoted most of his fortune, and his wife's, to paying the depositors of the Portland National Bank during the Panic of 1893. His widow, Hannah Mason, died in 1908. Born in England and married once before, in Napa, California, she donated the property now known as Willamette Park to the City of Portland, where the Water Bureau's pumping station, dedicated in 2017, bears her name. The couple had no children.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, William S. 1832 births 1899 deaths 19th-century American politicians Businesspeople from Portland, Oregon Mayors of Portland, Oregon Oregon Republicans People from Virginia Place of birth missing 19th-century American businesspeople