Alexander Lewis (October 4, 1822 – April 18, 1908) was an American politician and businessman who was the mayor of

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

from 1876 to 1877. He ran one of the largest flour and grain businesses in the city.

Early life

Alexander Lewis was born on October 4, 1822, in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

(then called "Sandwich"), the son of Thomas and Jeanette Velaire Lewis. He came to Detroit on May 1, 1837, to work as a clerk at E. W. Cole & Co. He remained at E. W. Cole & Co. for two years, then spent two years at the druggists G. & J. G. Hill, and then moved to

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit, Pontiac is part of the Metro Detroit, Detroit metropolitan area, and is vari ...

. Lewis returned to Detroit in 1843 to start a forwarding and commission service with his brother Samuel and Horace Gray. In 1845, Lewis started another forwarding and commission service with H. P. Bridge under the name of Bridge & Lewis.

Business and politics

Lewis remained with Bridge & Lewis until 1862, when he established a flour and grain business. This he built into one of the largest and most prosperous enterprises in the city. Lewis retired in 1884 to look after his various property interests and real estate. Lewis was also a director of the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Company, a director of the Detroit National Bank, president of Detroit Gas Light Company, and in 1862 president of the Detroit Board of Trade. Lewis served as Police Commissioner from 1865 to 1875 and was elected mayor of Detroit in 1876 as a Democrat. He was also a member of the Detroit Library Board of Commissioners from 1881 to 1888, and, with

Thomas W. Palmer Thomas Witherell Palmer (January 25, 1830 – June 1, 1913) was a U.S. Senator from the U.S. state, state of Michigan. He is considered to be one of the most significant figures in the history of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Palmer was born in ...

, established the Michigan

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals A Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is a common name for non-profit animal welfare organizations around the world. The oldest SPCA organization is the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which was founded ...

Family and later life

Lewis married Elizabeth J. Ingersoll in 1850; the couple had 13 children, of which 8 lived into the 1890s: Ida Frances (Lewis) Healy, Edward L. Lewis, Josephine (Lewis) Carpenter, Hattie I. (Lewis) Currie, Harry B. Lewis, Julia Velaire (McMillan) Penrose, Marion Marie (Lewis) Muir, and Alexander Ingersoll Lewis. Through his daughter Julia, Alexander is the great-great-grandfather of Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, the mother of

Princess Delphine of Belgium Princess Delphine of Belgium (''Delphine Michèle Anne Marie Ghislaine de Saxe-Cobourg''; born 22 February 1968), known previously as '' Jonkvrouw'' Delphine Boël, is a Belgian artist and member of the Belgian royal family. She is the daughte ...

(''Delphine Michèle Anne Marie Ghislaine de Saxe-Cobourg''; born 22 February 1968), known previously as ''

Jonkvrouw (female equivalent: ; in the masculine only; ''jonkvrouw'' is used in the feminine, even in French; ) is an honorific in the Low Countries denoting the lowest rank within the nobility. In the Netherlands, this in general concerns a prefix used ...

'' Delphine Boël, who is a Belgian artist and member of the

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. She is the daughter of King

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with de Selys Longchamps, and the half-sister of King

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. Around 1900, Lewis built a home in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, which is now the parish house for the Saint Paul Catholic Church. The complex was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1992. Alexander Lewis died on April 18, 1908.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Alexander 1822 births 1908 deaths Mayors of Detroit Politicians from Windsor, Ontario 19th-century mayors of places in Michigan Emigrants from pre-Confederation Ontario to the United States