Politics / Law
James A. Van Dyke
1813–1855 · lawyer, fire chief, mayor of Detroit
Eloquent Whig lawyer and fire-department president who was Detroit's 21st mayor (1847) and later the Michigan Central Railroad's attorney.
- Born
Mercersburg, Pennsylvania- Died
Detroit, Michigan- Birth name
- James Adams Van Dyke
- Detroit years
- 1834–1855
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
James A. Van Dyke, a Pennsylvanian, tried Baltimore and Pittsburgh before settling in Detroit in 1834, where he was admitted to the bar six months later. He practiced with future Michigan Supreme Court justice Charles W. Whipple and other partners, and in 1837 married Elizabeth Desnoyers, from one of the city's old French families; they had eleven children. He served as city attorney in 1835 and 1839, Wayne County prosecutor in 1840 and alderman in 1843–1844, and was elected mayor in 1847. A celebrated orator, he was also the leading figure of the city's volunteer firefighters, serving as president of the Detroit Fire Department from 1847 to 1851. In 1852 he gave up private practice to become attorney for the Michigan Central Railroad, and from 1853 he sat on the Board of Water Commissioners. He died in 1855, and the fire department published a memorial volume in his honor the following year.
Highlights
- Mayor of Detroit, 1847
- President of the Detroit Fire Department, 1847–1851
- Wayne County prosecuting attorney, 1840
- Attorney for the Michigan Central Railroad from 1852