Charles Godfrey Gunther (April 7, 1822 – January 22, 1885) was a Democratic Mayor of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

from 1864 until 1866.

Early life

Gunther was born in New York on April 7, 1822, into a family of recent immigrants from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

."The Mayor Elect"
''

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...

'', December 19, 1863, at 813. His father, Christian G. Gunther, was a wealthy fur merchant, and Gunther would eventually join the family business. Gunther was also a

volunteer firefighter A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. Volunteer and retained (on-call) firefighters are expected to be on call to respond t ...

for many years.

Political career

Gunther was active in

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

politics since his teenage years. In 1861 he ran for Mayor, but lost to

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George Opdyke George Opdyke (December 7, 1805 – June 12, 1880) was an entrepreneur and the 76th Mayor of New York City (1862 to 1864) during the American Civil War. The New York City draft riots occurred during his tenure. Early life Opdyke was born on Dec ...

in an election fraught with

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complications. In 1863 Gunther ran again and was elected, serving his two-year term from 1864 until 1866.

Later life

After leaving politics, Gunther became a railroad executive, working in that capacity until his death in New York on January 22, 1885. He was buried in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several blo ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunther, Charles Mayors of New York City American people of German descent 1822 births 1885 deaths Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery 19th-century American politicians

Early life

Political career

Later life

See also

Notes

References