Michael Joseph Conroy (September 20, 1874September 5, 1946) was the second Mayor of

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

, serving from 1923 to 1924.

Biography

Conroy was born in the village of

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County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, Ireland, on September 20, 1874. His family emigrated to the United States in 1880, settling in Manchester, New Hampshire. He worked for the

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until 1904. In 1905, he moved to

Seward, Alaska Seward (Alutiiq: ; Dena'ina: ''Tl'ubugh'') is an incorporated home rule city in Alaska, United States. Located on Resurrection Bay, a fjord of the Gulf of Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is situated on Alaska's southern coast, approxima ...

to work on the Alaska Central Railroad. He lived for a time in Cordova, Knik and Valdez, where in 1913 he was admitted to the

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. He served as United States Commissioner in the Seward-

Kenai Kenai (, ) ( Dena'ina: ; russian: Кенай, ''Kenay'') is a city in the Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is one hundred and fifty-eight miles by road southwest from Anchorage. The population was 7,424 as of the 2020 cen ...

precinct until 1916. During this time he met and married Nellie Rushton Muscott, a nurse from

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who was working in Seward for Dr.

Joseph H. Romig Joseph Herman Romig (September 3, 1872 – November 23, 1951) was an American frontier physician and Moravian Church missionary, who served as Mayor of Anchorage, Alaska, during 1937–1938. Biography Family and missionary work Joseph H. Rom ...

. In June 1916, the couple moved to Anchorage where Joe found work as a tax assessor for the not-yet incorporated city. Conroy was elected mayor in 1923, and reelected in 1924. During Conroy's first term in office, President Warren Harding visited Alaska, becoming the first U.S. President to visit the territory. Harding, along with

Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...

Herbert Hoover and others, arrived in Anchorage on the train from Seward on July 13, 1923 at 9:30 in the evening. Conroy welcomed them in a ceremony on Fourth Avenue, presenting Harding with a

Sydney Laurence Sydney Mortimer Laurence (1865–1940) was an American Romantic landscape painter and is widely considered one of Alaska's most important historical artists. Early life Sydney Mortimer Laurence was born in Brooklyn, New York and studied at the ...

oil painting of Mount McKinley. Conroy resigned on October 2, 1924, with City Council member Charles Bush appointed to complete the rest of his term. Conroy died on September 5, 1946. He is buried in

Anchorage Memorial Park The Anchorage Memorial Park, also known as Anchorage Cemetery, is a cemetery located in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. Covering nine city blocks, the cemetery separates the city's downtown and Fairview neighborhoods. The cemetery was e ...

Cemetery.

References

; General * ; Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Conroy, Michael Joseph 1874 births 1946 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in Alaska Alaska lawyers Mayors of Anchorage, Alaska Lawyers from County Galway People from Seward, Alaska People from Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska People from Valdez, Alaska Irish emigrants to the United States