Politics / Business & brands
John Patton
1822–1900 · carriage maker, mayor of Detroit
Irish-born carriage maker and popular fire-company leader who served as Detroit's mayor in 1858–1859, the first two-year term under a new charter.
- Born
County Down, Ireland- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 78- Detroit years
- 1843–1900
- Field
- Politics, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
John Patton was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1822 and emigrated with his family to Albany, New York, as a boy, where he apprenticed as a carriage smith. In 1843 he moved to Detroit and, after working for others, opened his own carriage works in 1845. The great fire of 1848 destroyed his factory, but he rebuilt and prospered. Much liked in the city, partly for his gifts as a reader and performer of Scottish and Irish dialect pieces, he rose through the volunteer fire service to chief engineer (1852–1854) and president of the Fire Department (1855–1857). A Democrat, he was an alderman in 1853–1854 and was elected mayor for 1858–1859, when Detroit's mayors first served two-year terms. He later held a long line of offices: county auditor, Wayne County sheriff, justice of the peace for twelve years and, from 1893 to 1897, U.S. consul at Amherstburg, Ontario. He died in 1900.
Highlights
- Mayor of Detroit, 1858–1859
- Chief engineer and president of the Detroit Fire Department in the 1850s
- Wayne County sheriff, 1869–1870
- U.S. consul at Amherstburg, Ontario, 1893–1897