List of mayors of Manchester, New Hampshire facts for kids

Manchester, New Hampshire, is a city led by a mayor. The mayor is like the city's chief executive officer, helping to run things smoothly. This page lists all the people who have served as mayor of Manchester.

In Manchester, elections for mayor are officially non-partisan. This means that candidates don't run as members of a specific political party, even though their party connections might be known. Mayors are chosen for a two-year term. The very first city election in Manchester happened a long time ago, on August 19, 1846.

The mayor has important jobs. They supervise how the city is managed and lead meetings of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, which is like the city council. The mayor also helps oversee the city's schools as the head of the Board of School Committee. To become mayor, a person must have lived in Manchester for at least a year before running for the job.

Over the years, the length of the mayor's term has changed a few times. From 1846 to 1857, mayors served for just one year. Then, the term end dates changed a couple of times before finally settling on a two-year term starting in 1880.

Meet the Mayors

Mayor	Term	Party	Notes	Photo
Hiram Brown	1846–1847	Whig	He was elected as Manchester's very first mayor on August 19, 1846.
Jacob F. James	1847–1849	Whig	He was first elected on May 22, 1847, after earlier elections didn't have a clear winner. He was re-elected in 1848 after more close elections.
Warren L. Lane	1849–1850	Democrat	He was elected in a special election in October 1849, after previous elections didn't have a clear winner.
Moses Fellows	1851–1852
Frederick Smyth	1852–1855
Theodore T. Abbott	1855–1857	American	He was elected in March 1855 and then re-elected in March 1856.
Jacob F. James	1857		He was elected in November 1856.
Alonzo Smith	1858
Edward W. Harrington	1859–1860
David A. Bunton	1861–1862	Republican
Theodore T. Abbott	1863	American
Frederick Smyth	1864	Republican	Smyth won the election with almost all the votes. He later became the governor of New Hampshire in 1865.
Darwin J. Daniels	1865 – August 15, 1865		He passed away while still in office.
John Hosley	August 1865 – 1866		He was elected to fill the mayor's position after it became empty.
Joseph B. Clark	1867
James A. Weston	1868	Democrat	He later became the Governor of New Hampshire, serving from 1871–1872.
Isaac W. Smith	1869	Republican
James A. Weston	1870–1871	Democrat
Person Colby Cheney	1872	Republican	He served as Governor of New Hampshire from 1875–1877. He was also appointed as a U.S. Senator for a short time.
Charles H. Bartlett	1873		He was elected on December 12, 1872, but he resigned on February 18, 1873. He couldn't hold both his job as Clerk of the U.S. District Court and an elected city office at the same time.
John P. Newell	1873		He was chosen by the city's leaders (Aldermen and Common Council) to fill the mayor's position.
James A. Weston	1874–1875	Democrat
Alpheus Gay	1875–1876
Ira Cross	1876–1877	Republican	He resigned from his position.
John L. Kelly	1877–1880
Horace B. Putnam	1881–1884
George H. Stearns	1885–1886		He lived to be 91 years old.
John Hosley	1887–1888
David B. Varney	1889–1890
Edgar J. Knowlton	1891 – May 10, 1894		He resigned on May 10, 1894. David B. Varney then served as mayor for a short time.
William C. Clarke	1895–1902
Eugene E. Reed	1903–1910	Democrat	He served in the U.S. Congress from 1913 to 1915. He also ran for the U.S. Senate in 1918.
Edward C. Smith	1911–1912	Republican
Charles C. Hayes	1913–1914	Republican
Harry W. Spaulding	1915–1917	Republican
Moise Verrette	1918–1921	Democrat	He was an Executive Councillor from 1916–1918.
George E. Trudel	1922–1925
Arthur E. Moreau	1926–1931	Republican
Damase Caron	1932–1941	Democrat
Wilfred A. Laflamme	1942–1943	Republican
Josephat T. Benoit	1944–1961	Democrat	He served for a record nine terms in a row! He was born in Canada and moved to the U.S. when he was seven.
John C. Mongan	1962–1963	Republican	He was the first mayor since 1946 to be sworn into office outside of City Hall.
Roland S. Vallee	1964–1967	Democrat	He was known as the "singing mayor."
John C. Mongan	1968–1969	Republican
Henry J. Pariseau	1970	Republican	He passed away while still in office.
Charles R. "Dick" Stanton	1970–1971	Democrat	He was chosen by the city's leaders to finish the rest of Mayor Pariseau's term.
Sylvio L. Dupuis	1972–1975	Democrat	He resigned in May 1975 to help start the Catholic Medical Center.
Charles R. "Dick" Stanton	1975–1981	Democrat	After being chosen to finish Mayor Dupuis's term, he won three more elections to serve as mayor.
Emile Beaulieu	1982–1983	Democrat	He lost his re-election bid to Robert F. Shaw in 1983.
Robert F. Shaw	1984–1987	Republican	He later changed to the Democratic Party in 1995. He passed away in a car accident.
Emile Beaulieu	1988–1989	Democrat	He lost his re-election bid to Raymond J. Wieczorek in 1989. He later changed to the Republican Party in 1995.
Raymond Wieczorek	1989–2000	Republican	He lost his re-election bid to Robert A. Baines in 1999. He later served as an Executive Councillor.
Robert A. Baines	2000–2006	Democrat	He lost his re-election bid to Frank Guinta in 2005.
Frank Guinta	2006–2010	Republican	He was sworn into office on January 3, 2006. He was the youngest Manchester mayor in over 150 years! He later served as a U.S. Representative.
Theodore "Ted" Gatsas	2010–2018	Republican	He was sworn into office on January 5, 2010. He lost his re-election bid to Joyce Craig in 2017. He is now serving as an Executive Councillor.
Joyce Craig	2018–2024	Democratic	She was sworn into office on January 2, 2018. She is the first woman to be elected mayor of Manchester!
Jay Ruais	2024–present	Republican	He was sworn into office on January 2, 2024.

See also

• Mayoral elections in Manchester, New Hampshire