John Samuel Bransford (August 26, 1856 - 1944) was the 15th mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah from 1907 to 1911.
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Biography
Bransford was born in Richmond, Missouri. As a child, Bransford had traveled the Mormon Trail with his family on their way to California in 1864, pausing in Salt Lake City. In Plumas County, California, Bransford was a county appraiser from 1886 to 1890 and served three periods as a county sheriff. He was elected to this position as a Democrat.
Bransford moved to Salt Lake City in 1899 and remained there permanently. In 1900, Bransford was elected president of the Stock and Mining Mining of Salt Lake. In 1904, he joined the US anti-Mormon Utah party, but remained a member of the Democratic Party.
Bransford became mayor on August 13, 1907, 11 days after Ezra Thompson resigned due to illness and allegations of corruption. Bransford was unanimously elected by the city council instead of Thompson. Bransford served the remainder of Thompson's term and was elected mayor of the 1907 election. He was re-elected in 1909, and held until the end of a second term elected in 1911.
As the leader of the American Party, Bransford is less vocal in his anti-Mormonism than his predecessors, and leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are greatly relieved to have Bransford over Thompson lead the city where their church is based.
Bransford's most important achievement as mayor is the establishment of a red-light district in Salt Lake City, known as the "Stockade", which limits city prostitutes to work on square blocks between 100 and 200 South and between 500 and 600 West.
After Bransford left the office, the American Party collapsed. He was a delegate from Utah to the 1912 Democratic National Convention and a member of the Platform and Rules Committee.
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See also
- List of mayors of Salt Lake City
References
- Jeffrey D. Nichols (2002). Prostitution, Polygamy and Power: Salt Lake City, 1847-1918 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, ISBN 978-0-252-02768-0)
- Hal Schindler, "Colorful Mayoral History Waiting for an Unprecedented Chapter of Coradini", Salt Lake Tribune <1991, pp. A1
- Hal Schindler, "The Old Profession of Sordid's Past in Utah", Salt Lake Tribune
- John S. Bransford, politicalgraveyard.com
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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