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MAYORS SERVE CITY WELL
By Roger Forsythe, Daily Journal Staff Writer
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Some lasted less than a week. Others settled comfortably into the Bismarck City Hall offices for years on end, sometimes as long as a quarter of a century.
Whether their influence has been deep or shallow, wide or narrow, the mayors who have made the dicisions in Bismarck's 125-year history have helped shape what that history has become--past, present, as well as future.
Since Jan. 5, 1904, 24 mayors have served the City of Bismarck. Their terms of office range in length from Burkett T. Eaton, who completed G. J. Goeltz's six-day unexpired term April 1913 -- to Oscar McGeorge's 25-year run (1956-1981) as the city's top elected official.
The earliest known mayors are: J. P. Murphy, 1904-1906; W. R. Vineyard, 1906-1908; G.
J. Goeltz, 1908-1913 (resigned); Burkett T. Eaton, 6 days, Goeltz's unexpired term of
office; Otto Ramsey, 1914-1916; and Robert "Bob" Ward, 1916-1918.
In the April 10, 1918 municipal election, two candidates tied for the mayoral seat. When
the Bismarck Board of Aldermen attempted to decide the issue, they, too, reached a tie
vote.
It was not until Ward, the incumbent mayor, decided the tie vote that C. T. Tullock was named his successor. Tullock's term of office lasted only four months, however.
On Aug. 31, 1918, Tullock resigned and L. F. Kidd was named the acting mayor. Hugh Steele was elected in the special municipal election called for Oct. 5, 1918.
After Steele left office in 1922, his post was filled by Cicero H. Lucy (1922-1926), Emmett Belknap (1926-1928), and P. C. Friend, who resigned in September, 1928.
In the interim that followed, Board President J. C. Hunter accepted the leadership reins until Earl Wright was elected in April 1929. Wright served until 1932.
His immediate successors included: J. F. Schroeder, 1932-1934; Frank
Oehler, 1934-1938 and 1940-1941; Edgar Hill, 1938-1940; and Earl Wright, 1950-1952.
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As Board President, J. J. Rickman presided at the city council meetings until he was formally elected mayor in 1942. The first of his non-consecutive terms of office extended through 1946, while the second lasted from 1952-1953.
Shortly after E. A. Beard acted as mayor for just over a month in mid-1953, he passed the city's bark-edged gavel to Paul V. Williams, who used it in the meetings until 1956.
Elected to an unprecedented 13 terms of office, Oscar McGeorge dominated city politics in four decades--April 5, 1956 through April 9, 1981.
During McGeorge's tenure, the Missouri State Highway and Transportation Commission re-routed Highway 32 along its present course, a new fire station and community building were built, plans were first launched for the city's sewage system, water services were substantially expanded, and the civil defense unit was re-located to a new building.
In recent years, McGeorge has been succeeded by Omer E. Francis (1981-1984), George W. West (1984-1990) and today's incumbent, Mayor Paul Hedrick, who was first elected to office in 1990.
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