Trenton's Mayors

Wall with Photos of Trentons Past MayorsThe City of Trenton has had 49 Mayors and a Chief Burgess (Burr guess), in its history. Dr. Thomas Cadwalader was approved by England’s King George II and held the post from 1746-1750. Upon the New Jersey State Legislature granting Trenton a charter, Moore Furman became Trenton’s first Mayor, and held the post from 1792-1794.

Mayoral Portraits

Some 100 years ago, Mayor Frederick Donnelly (whose father Richard Donnelly was also a Trenton Mayor) was in office from 1911 to 1932. He took issue with the fact that there was no collection of portraits of the 34 Mayors who had preceded him. He would be successful in gathering most of those images and making them available to the public.

There are a few portraits missing from the Mayors’ Wall in the Trenton City Atrium. The Daily State Gazette did a story on November 17, 1914 that revealed Mayor Donnelly’s unsuccessful efforts to track down those same missing portraits. The Mayor’s Office welcomes assistance from members of the public to help track down these missing portraits.

Historical Facts

The following is some history about our Mayors:

  • 1/3 of our first 35 Mayors were lawyers
  • 1 Mercer County Sheriff (Mayor Madden)
  • 1 New Jersey Attorney General (Mayor Woodruff)
  • 1 State Treasurer (Mayor Briggs)
  • 1 United States Senator (Mayor Briggs)
  • 2 Mercer County Prosecutors (Mayors Hamilton, and Duch)
  • 2 Mercer County Surrogates (Mayors Madden and Sherman)
  • 2 New Jersey Quartermaster Generals (Mayors Richard Donnelly and Hamilton)
  • 2 New Jersey Supreme Court Justices (Mayors Reed and Katzenbach Jr.)
  • 3 Mercer County Freeholders (Mayors Shaw, Mack, Palmer)
  • 5 Judges:
    • Burroughs
    • Duch
    • Ewing
    • Gnichtel
    • Vroom
  • 5 Physicians:
    • Chief Burgess Cadwalader
    • Madden
    • Rice
    • Shaw
    • Woolverton

The City of Trenton has a very rich history. All are encouraged to invest time in getting to know that history.