George H. Connell (November 2, 1871 – October 22, 1955,

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

) was a US Republican politician. He was a member of the

Philadelphia City Council The Philadelphia City Council is the legislative body of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is composed of 17 councilmembers: ten members elected by district and seven members elected at-large from throughou ...

from 1913 to 1939 and was acting

Mayor of Philadelphia The mayor of Philadelphia is the chief executive of the government of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as stipulated by the Charter of the City of Philadelphia. The current mayor of Philadelphia is Cherelle Parker, who is the first woman to hold the ...

in 1939.

Biography

Connell was born on November 2, 1871, in the

Cobbs Creek Cobbs Creek is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of Darby Creek in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It forms an approxima ...

section of Philadelphia. His father was Horatio P. Connell, who had served as Sheriff of Philadelphia. His grandfather, George Connell was a member of the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four-year terms, stagger ...

whose accomplishments including pushing legislation for the creation of

Fairmount Park Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, w ...

and Mount Moriah Cemetery. A member of the Republican, he became active in Philadelphia politics and served as the Republican chair for the 40th ward in West Philadelphia. He became a member of the

in 1913, first as a member of the Common Council and then the Select Council after 1915. In January 1936, he became the city council president. On August 11, 1, mayor Samuel Davis Wilson, who had been seriously ill, retired as mayor in hopes that he would better recover without the stress of his position. As the city council president, Connell was sworn in as acting mayor that day. Having taken over, he immediately ordered 210 police officers from administrative work to patrol duties because of a shortage of patrol officers in the city. For much of his term, Connell grappled with the city's budget during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. He addressed the council on the need to identify $9 million in revenue to avoid cutting city services. He obtained a $41 million loan from the

Reconstruction Finance Corporation The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) was an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States federal government that served as a lender of last resort to US banks and businesses. Established in ...

in September 1939 that would be backed by revenues of the city's natural gas plant as an initial step. He proposed the installation of up to 8,000 parking meters across the city in another bid to add revenue. In December 1939, shortly before his term expired, Connell and the city council, with a vote of 17 to 3 in favor, approved a wage tax of 1.5% on earned incomes from both city residents and commuters. A worker at the

Philadelphia Navy Yard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy shipyard and was historically important for nearly two centuries. Construction of the original Philadelphia Naval Shipyard began during the American Revolution in 1776 at Front ...

sued the city, alleging that the tax was unconstitutional. In 1943, the

Pennsylvania Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as the "Supreme Court" of Pennsylvania were made offici ...

in the case of ''Kiker v. Philadelphia'' ruled that the wage tax was indeed constitutional and upheld it. The tax remains in place as of 2020 and is Philadelphia's largest source of tax revenue. Although recognized by the city as a Mayor of Philadelphia, Connell was often referred to as the acting mayor in media reports. The City Charter at the time called for the election of a replacement of the mayor by a vote of the council, with the council president holding office until that election. While the council intended to vote in Connell's favor, an obscure provision in the charter stated that a member of council would not be eligible to hold another office "during the term for which he shall have been elected as Councilman." Upon discovery, some members of the council interpreted this to mean that Connell could not formally be elected as Mayor. The council's options were to ignore the portion of the charter requiring the council to elect a mayor or to elect Connell and allow the issue to be resolved in the courts. Regardless of the decisions around seating Connell as mayor, he served out the remainder of Wilson's term until Robert Lamberton's inauguration on January 1, 1940. After Connell left office, Mayor Lamberton appointed him as Director of Public Welfare. Connell died on October 22, 1955, after a stroke and is interred at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia.Mount Moriah Cemetery clean up a moving experience
/ref> He was survived by his wife Carolina (Fairman) Connell, his son George Fairman Connell and a daughter.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Connell, George 1871 births 1955 deaths Burials at Mount Moriah Cemetery (Philadelphia) Mayors of Philadelphia Philadelphia City Council members Pennsylvania Republicans Presidents of the Philadelphia City Council