Politics / Business & brands
William Richert
1858–1912 · grocer, council president, acting mayor of Detroit
German-born grocer and liquor wholesaler who, as council president, served two weeks as acting mayor in 1897 after Hazen Pingree became governor.
- Born
German Empire- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 53- Detroit years
- 1870s–1912
- Field
- Politics, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
William Richert came to the United States from Germany as a teenager, part of the large German immigration that shaped Detroit's East Side in the late nineteenth century. He built a business as a grocer and wholesale liquor distributor and entered politics as a Republican ally of the reform era, sitting on the Detroit City Council from 1890 to 1897 and serving as its president in 1895 and 1897. When Mayor Hazen Pingree was elected governor and tried at first to hold both offices, the courts forced him out of the mayoralty, and Richert, as council president, became acting mayor from March 22 to April 5, 1897, until a special election chose William C. Maybury. He ran unsuccessfully for the state senate in 1899, later helped German families settle in Alameda, Saskatchewan, and worked as a foreman for the Detroit Board of Public Works. He died in Detroit in 1912 and is buried at Elmwood.
Highlights
- Acting mayor of Detroit, March 22 – April 5, 1897
- Detroit City Council member 1890–1897, president in 1895 and 1897
- Helped German settlers move to Alameda, Saskatchewan
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Buried here · 1912
Elmwood Cemetery
He was buried at Elmwood Cemetery.