Talk:Mayor of Boston

Untitled

I've been doing a little work on this list (particularly in the 20th century) --- fixing the terms of office and adding pages for Boston mayors who didn't have pages. One thing I've found confusing is how terms of office are listed here and in the entries for individual mayors. During the 20th century (and perhaps earlier), Boston elections for mayor have been held in the fall of odd years and the winner has taken office the following year (on January 1?). For example, James Michael Curley was first elected mayor in 1913 and took office in early 1914. Since the early part of the 20th century, the term has been four years. There are, however, some inconsistencies that need to be resolved and I welcome feedback. One is the election of John Hynes in 1949 --- he took office in 1950 and was reelected in 1951. Why wasn't the next election in 1953? Maybe I need to re-read The Rascal King. Rickterp 16:40, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

I consulted The Rascal King and have the answer to my own question: In 1949, a reform to the Boston mayoral election process was passed by referendum (instituting the current system of a non-party preliminary election with a runoff among the top two finishers). Part of that reform was that, if passed by the voters, the new system would go into affect after just two years in 1951. So, that's why Hynes served three full terms and 10 years --- one two-year term (1950-1952) and two four-year terms (1952-1956 and 1956-1960). Rickterp 03:42, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Numbering

We have at least three acting mayors (Chairman of Board of Alderman) on this list, yet two are numbered and one is "A". Should we have some consistency? Perhaps if they are sworn in, they get a number, but if they are simply acting in that capacity, no number? Akatie (talk) 06:47, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

I agree that a fix is needed here. The fact that Acting Mayor Cutter was numbered in this list at the time Walsh was sworn in (and still today) led his staff to number him improperly. Subsequently, Acting Mayor Janey then numbered herself to follow his number (which again wouldn't make sense because most of the acting mayors in this list which was used by Walsh for his number) has numerous acting mayors unassigned numbers themselves. I propose:

• Elected mayors get numbers
• Acting mayors do not get numbers
• Non-consecutive terms by the same person get new numbers (with parentheses indicating the count of non-consecutive terms for that person)

This is basically how the list is organized now, but corrections will be made where any rows are inconsistent with these rules. I will act on this in a few days unless there is any disagreement here on the talk page first. ju66l3r (talk) 04:22, 3 November 2021 (UTC)

As no one spoke up in disagreement after a week, this change has been implemented. I'm happy to discuss further if there need to be any fixes/revisions back for any reason. Cutter is no longer numbered, all other numbers are updated accordingly and Janey was given a sort number (previously set to 0 which was incorrect when sorting by the first column). ju66l3r (talk) 17:46, 11 November 2021 (UTC)

I don't know why someone has chosen to screw up the numbering without discussing it here first. I'll be fixing it again in the morning. ju66l3r (talk) 07:01, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

Michelle Wu's wiki page currently labels her as the 55th mayor, even though the list in this article labels her as the 54th. I think Wikipedia should be consistent. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 38.87.237.200 (talk) 13:31, 10 January 2022 (UTC)

Just for posterity: I amended the relevant note to include the fact the numbering has been since removed, so readers don't get confused when we say mayors have cited Wikipedia on their numbers and go "I don't see any numbers?" As far as I can tell the numbering was removed by User:Dmoore5556 at 01:42, 31 May 2025. (At least, for the final time. I didn't check whether there had been any back and forth on this, as I do not think that kind of internal detail would benefit the general reader) CapnZapp (talk) 10:30, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

As a curiosity, Michelle Wu currently claims "Michelle Wu (Chinese: 吳弭;[1] pinyin: Wú Mǐ; born January 14, 1985) is an American lawyer and politician who has been the 54th mayor of Boston since 2021." (my emphasis). Curioser, this claim is not corroborated by either of the sources given (Boston Magazine and AP). This is also a case of {{Not in body}} - nowhere in the body of that article is the number brought up again. I'll tag the article. CapnZapp (talk) 10:35, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Proposed move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: page moved. Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 18:19, 6 June 2014 (UTC)

---

Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts → Mayor of Boston – Per WP:USPLACE. Mark Schierbecker (talk) 08:29, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

• Don't move. The "Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts" is not the only mayor of Boston. There is another one. USPLACE isnot relevant because the mayor is not a populated place. Sairp (talk) 09:32, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
• Support per nom. There are Londons other than the one in England, but our article for that city's mayor is Mayor of London. Calidum ^{Talk To Me} 14:38, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
• Support as primary topic Red Slash 22:26, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
• Support as PT. There isn't even an article about the mayor of Boston, Lincolnshire. Zarcadia (talk) 16:44, 4 June 2014 (UTC)

---

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Nomenclature

If mayors 10 and 14 have the same political party color code, why do their party names differ?

Did, say, the party name change? If so, explain in a footnote. If not, consistentize the names.

Jimlue (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 02:48, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

Yes, the party named changed (see Know Nothing). I'll add a footnote. Dmoore5556 (talk) 02:53, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Kim-janey-headshot.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 23:32, 9 April 2021 (UTC)

Re: Proposed move above

(This is a new talk section, respecting that the Requested move discussion started in May of 2014 is closed)

Borough of Boston § Leadership discusses the mayor position, and the {{Infobox legislature}} infobox in that article names the mayor, so I added a hatnote. CapnZapp (talk) 10:43, 18 March 2026 (UTC)