Alexander Lewis

Alexander Lewis
Alexander Lewis
Mayor of Detroit
	In office; 1876–1877
Preceded by	Hugh Moffat
Succeeded by	George C. Langdon
Personal details
Born	October 4, 1822; Windsor, Ontario
Died	April 18, 1908 (aged 85); Detroit, Michigan
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth J. Ingersoll

Alexander Lewis (October 4, 1822 – April 18, 1908) was a wholesale goods, insurance, and real estate businessman and mayor of Detroit, Michigan.

Early life

Alexander Lewis was born on October 4, 1822, in Windsor, Ontario (then called "Sandwich"), the son of Thomas and Jeanette Velaire Lewis.[1] Alexander Lewis came to Detroit on May 1, 1837, to work as a clerk at E. W. Cole & Co.[1] He remained at E. W. Cole & Co. for two years, then spent two years at the druggists G. & J. G. Hill, and then moved to Pontiac, Michigan. Lewis returned to Detroit in 1843 to start a forwarding and commission service with his brother Samuel and Horace Gray.[1] In 1845, Lewis started another forwarding and commission service with H. P. Bridge under the name of Bridge & Lewis.[1]

Business and politics

Lewis remained with Bridge & Lewis until 1862, when he established a flour and grain business.[1] This he built into one of the largest and most prosperous enterprises in the city.[2] Lewis retired in 1884 to look after his various property interests and real estate.[1][2] Lewis was also a director of the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Company, a director of the Detroit National Bank, president of Detroit Gas Light Company, and in 1862 president of the Detroit Board of Trade.[1]

Lewis served as Police Commissioner from 1865 to 1875 and was elected mayor of Detroit in 1876 as a Democrat.[1] He was also a member of the Detroit Library Board of Commissioners from 1881 to 1888,[2] and, with Thomas W. Palmer, established the Michigan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.[3]

Family and later life

Lewis married Elizabeth J. Ingersoll in 1850; the couple had 13 children, of which 8 lived into the 1890s: Ida Frances (Lewis) Healy, Edward L. Lewis, Josephine (Lewis) Carpenter, Hattie I. (Lewis) Currie, Harry B. Lewis, Julia Velaire (Lewis) Penrose, Marion Marie (Lewis) Muir, and Alexander Ingersoll Lewis.[1]

Around 1900, Lewis built a home in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, which is now the parish house for the Saint Paul Catholic Church.[4] The complex was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1992[4] Alexander Lewis died on April 18, 1908.[2]

Political offices
Preceded by Hugh Moffat	Mayor of Detroit 1876–1877	Succeeded by George C. Langdon

References

Silas Farmer (1889), THE HISTORY OF DETROIT AND MICHIGAN, pp. 1040–1047, 1048
Compendium of History and Biography of the City of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan, Henry Taylor & Co, 1908, pp. 249–251
Michigan Humane Society (2002), Michigan Humane Society: animal welfare in Detroit, 1877-2002, Arcadia Publishing, p. 16, ISBN 0738520284
"Saint Paul Catholic Church Complex". Michigan State Housing Development Authority: Historic Sites Online. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved March 13, 2010.

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[farm-1] Silas Farmer (1889), THE HISTORY OF DETROIT AND MICHIGAN, pp. 1040–1047, 1048

[histbio-2] Compendium of History and Biography of the City of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan, Henry Taylor & Co, 1908, pp. 249–251

[humane-3] Michigan Humane Society (2002), Michigan Humane Society: animal welfare in Detroit, 1877-2002, Arcadia Publishing, p. 16, ISBN 0738520284

[state-4] "Saint Paul Catholic Church Complex". Michigan State Housing Development Authority: Historic Sites Online. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved March 13, 2010.