Sherburn Merrill Becker (November 13, 1876 – February 5, 1949) was a

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

politician and the 34th

mayor of Milwaukee This is a list of mayors of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Following the election of Socialist Emil Seidel as mayor of Milwaukee in 1910, Wisconsin legislators passed a bill in 1912 to declare most local offices across the state as officially non-parti ...

. He was the last Republican to hold this office.

Biography

Sherburn Merrill Becker was born in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, on November 13, 1876. He was the only child of Washington Becker, a New York lawyer and president of Marine National Bank, and Sarah Worthing Merrill. Becker went on to attend

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

. Just before graduating at age 22, he married Irene B. Smith in Milwaukee on December 12, 1898. Becker served on the Milwaukee Common Council and on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. He was elected

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Milwaukee in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

, defeating four-term incumbent David Rose. Only 29 years old at the time, Becker was popularly known as the "boy mayor". He served only one two-year term and chose not to run for office again in 1908. Becker later moved to New York City to work in the financial market by purchasing a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. He retired in 1937, moving to a 2,000 acre dairy farm in upstate New York where he died on February 5, 1949, at age 72. His body was returned to Milwaukee and interred at

Forest Home Cemetery Forest Home Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery and arboretum located in the Lincoln Village, City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Lincoln Village neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is the final resting place of many of the city's famed bee ...

. On November 21, 1906, as mayor of Milwaukee, Becker attended the Packy McFarland versus Kid Herman boxing bout at the Davenport Coliseum in Iowa. He traveled by special train leaving from Chicago's La Salle Station to Davenport at 1PM. He was accompanied by a "Dr. Krohn" and several others.''Chicago Tribune,'' November 21, 1907, Pg. 8, thesweetscience.com In 1906 Mayor Becker ordered the city's street clocks removed officially claiming they obstructed sidewalks. Allegedly Mayor Becker thought they made his city look old fashioned and he wanted to project a more modern image for the city. When the businesses that owned the clocks failed to comply with Mayor Becker's order Becker had the Milwaukee Fire Department destroy clocks on Grand Avenue, (now Wisconsin Avenue) the city's main street.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Sherburn M. 20th-century mayors of places in Wisconsin Wisconsin Republicans Mayors of Milwaukee Milwaukee Common Council members County supervisors in Wisconsin 1876 births 1949 deaths Harvard Law School alumni Burials at Forest Home Cemetery