Robert Erastus McKisson (January 30, 1863 – October 14, 1915) was an American politician of the Republican party. He served as the 33rd mayor of

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, from 1895 to 1898. McKisson first arrived in Cleveland with his family in the early 1870s, and moved to

LaGrange, Ohio LaGrange ( ) is a village in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,595 at the 2020 census. The village derives its name from Château de la Grange-Bléneau, the French home of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, an office ...

, in 1879. In 1887, he began studying law in Cleveland, passed the Ohio

bar exam A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associat ...

in 1889, and began practicing law with John Webster and Elgin Angell in 1891.MCKISSON, ROBERT ERASTUS , Encyclopedia of Cleveland History , Case Western Reserve University , Case Western Reserve University
Retrieved 2018-05-29. McKisson, who was interested in politics, was elected to

Cleveland City Council Cleveland City Council is the legislature, legislative branch of Local government in the United States, government for the Cleveland, City of Cleveland, Ohio. Its chambers are located at Cleveland City Hall at 601 Lakeside Avenue, across the str ...

in 1894 and became an outspoken critic of the mayoral administration of

Robert Blee Robert Blee (January 31, 1839–February 26, 1898) was the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, from 1893 to 1894. For Robert Blee, all of the following information is from "Annals of the Early Settlers Association of Cuyahoga County" Volume IV, publishe ...

, a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

. His rhetoric paid off when he beat Blee in the 1895 mayoral race. In his two-term tenure as mayor, McKisson began construction on a new city water and sewer system. He also widened and straightened the

Cuyahoga River The Cuyahoga River (see ) is a river located in Northeast Ohio that bisects the City of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie. As Cleveland emerged as a major manufacturing center, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so mu ...

to facilitate steamer traffic, and built five new bridges across the river. He created a powerful

political machine In the politics of representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership c ...

loyal to him that challenged

Mark Hanna Marcus Alonzo Hanna (September 24, 1837 – February 15, 1904) was an American businessman and Republican politician who served as a United States Senator from Ohio as well as chairman of the Republican National Committee. A friend and ...

for control of the local Republican party. In 1898, he ran against Hanna for a seat in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, but lost in a very close election. In the 1899 election, McKisson was defeated by John H. Farley, a former mayor of Cleveland. He retired from politics and returned to private practice.

References

1863 births 1915 deaths 19th-century mayors of places in Ohio Mayors of Cleveland People from LaGrange, Ohio Ohio Republicans {{Ohio-mayor-stub