Politics
Joseph A. Martin
1888–1928 · public works commissioner, acting mayor of Detroit
Detroit's commissioner of public works who served as acting mayor for two months in 1924 after Frank Doremus resigned, then lost the 1924 mayoral race.
- Born
- Died
aged 40- Detroit years
- 1920–1928
- Field
- Politics
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Joseph A. Martin rose in Detroit city government during the auto boom of the early 1920s, when the city was paving streets, building sewers and extending services at a furious pace. He served as commissioner of public works from 1920 to 1923, one of the key jobs in a city whose population had more than doubled in a decade. When Mayor Frank E. Doremus resigned for health reasons in June 1924, Martin became acting mayor. He stepped down in August to concentrate on campaigning for the office in the special election that fall, and council president John C. Lodge filled in. The race became one of the most dramatic in Detroit's history: Martin lost a three-way contest to John W. Smith, while Charles Bowles, openly backed by the Ku Klux Klan, nearly won as a write-in candidate. Martin died in 1928, aged only 40.
Highlights
- Acting mayor of Detroit, June–August 1924
- Detroit commissioner of public works, 1920–1923
- Candidate in the three-way 1924 mayoral election won by John W. Smith