Edward Robeson Taylor: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Content deleted Content added


 

Line 38: Line 38:

Edward Robeson Taylor died in San Francisco on July 5, 1923. His remains are housed at the [[San Francisco Columbarium & Funeral Home|San Francisco Columbarium]].<ref>”San Francisco Columbarium”. Find A Grave. 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2010.</ref>

Edward Robeson Taylor died in San Francisco on July 5, 1923. His remains are housed at the [[San Francisco Columbarium & Funeral Home|San Francisco Columbarium]].<ref>”San Francisco Columbarium”. Find A Grave. 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2010.</ref>

The political economist [[Henry George]] credits Taylor for influencing his work ”[[Progress and Poverty]]” (1879), one of the most popular and influential books in American history.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brechin |first1=Gray |author-link=Gray Brechin |url=http://graybrechin.net/_docs/books/Indestructible-by-Reason-of-Beauty-Gray-Brechin.pdf |title=Indestructible By Reason of Beauty: The Beaumanance of a Public Library Building |date=2003 |publisher=Greenwood Press |access-date=23 December 2014}}</ref> In September 1925, the name of Portola Elementary School in San Francisco was changed to Edward Robeson Taylor Elementary School to honor him.<ref>”San Francisco Chronicle”, September 2, 1925, page 12, column 1 </ref> As of 1926, Taylor was distinguished as one of only two politicians in California state history to be both an [[M.D.]] and an [[attorney-at-law]], the other being [[William J. Gavigan]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Drury |first1=Wells |title=Meetings of the Society |journal=[[California Historical Society]] Quarterly |date=March 1926 |volume=V |issue=1 |page=95 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210017211523&seq=107&view=1up |access-date=23 November 2025 |location=San Francisco}}</ref>

The political economist [[Henry George]] credits Taylor for influencing his work ”[[Progress and Poverty]]” (1879), one of the most popular and influential books in American history.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brechin |first1=Gray |author-link=Gray Brechin |url=http://graybrechin.net/_docs/books/Indestructible-by-Reason-of-Beauty-Gray-Brechin.pdf |title=Indestructible By Reason of Beauty: The Beaumanance of a Public Library Building |date=2003 |publisher=Greenwood Press |access-date=23 December 2014}}</ref> In September 1925, the name of Portola Elementary School in San Francisco was changed to Edward Robeson Taylor Elementary School to honor him.<ref>”San Francisco Chronicle”, September 2, 1925, page 12, column 1 </ref> As of 1926, Taylor was distinguished as one of only two politicians in California state history to be both [[]] and an [[attorney-at-law]], the other being [[William J. Gavigan]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Drury |first1=Wells |title=Meetings of the Society |journal=[[California Historical Society]] Quarterly |date=March 1926 |volume=V |issue=1 |page=95 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210017211523&seq=107&view=1up |access-date=23 November 2025 |location=San Francisco}}</ref>

==Notes==

==Notes==


Latest revision as of 04:22, 24 November 2025

28th Mayor of San Francisco from 1907 to 1910

Edward Robeson Taylor

In office
July 16, 1907 – January 8, 1910
Preceded by Charles Boxton
Succeeded by P. H. McCarthy
Born (1838-09-22)September 22, 1838
Died July 5, 1923(1923-07-05) (aged 84)
Political party Democratic
Profession Lawyer, doctor, poet

Edward Robeson Taylor (September 24, 1838 – July 5, 1923) was the 28th Mayor of San Francisco, serving from July 16, 1907, to January 7, 1910.

Edward Robeson Taylor was born on September 24, 1838, in Springfield, Illinois, the only son of Henry West Taylor and the former Mary Thaw of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (he was descended on his mother’s side from the early colonial merchant, Andrew Robeson, of Philadelphia). He eventually moved to California to escape the Civil War.

Taylor was a lawyer, a doctor, and a poet.[1] He served as dean of Hastings College of the Law, co-founded a medical college, and founded the Book Club of California.[1]

In 1898, he published a book of sonnets based on the paintings of William Keith.

Mayor of San Francisco

[edit]

On July 16, 1907, Taylor was appointed mayor following the resignation of Charles Boxton, who served only eight days after the conviction and removal of Eugene Schmitz. (Taylor was actually the third man approached for the city’s top job, as Dr. John Galloway and former Justice Ralph C. Harrison both declined.) At 68 years of age, he became the city’s oldest mayor (a record he still holds as of 2025). Taylor was elected to a full two-year term that fall, defeating three other candidates (including future mayor P. H. McCarthy) with just over half the vote. He declined to run again in 1909, and would be the last member of the Democratic Party to lead San Francisco for over half a century (until John F. Shelley was elected in 1963).

During his 30 months as mayor, Taylor’s accomplishments included: presiding over the resolution of the bloody 1907 San Francisco streetcar strike; reorganizing the city government after 16 of 18 members of the board of supervisors and the chief of the police department were implicated in a corruption scandal; rebuilding the city in the aftermath of the devastating 1906 earthquake; battling with the federal government for the right to build the Hetch Hetchy water system; presiding over the creation of the Municipal Railway; and fighting an outbreak of bubonic plague.[1]

Edward Robeson Taylor died in San Francisco on July 5, 1923. His remains are housed at the San Francisco Columbarium.[2]
The political economist Henry George credits Taylor for influencing his work Progress and Poverty (1879), one of the most popular and influential books in American history.[3] In September 1925, the name of Portola Elementary School in San Francisco was changed to Edward Robeson Taylor Elementary School to honor him.[4] As of 1926, Taylor was distinguished as one of only two politicians in California state history to be both a medical doctor and an attorney-at-law, the other being William J. Gavigan.[5]

  1. ^ a b c Nolte, Carl (November 6, 2007). “Exhibition spotlights career of ‘totally forgotten mayor’ Taylor”. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
  2. ^ San Francisco Columbarium. Find A Grave. 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  3. ^ Brechin, Gray (2003). Indestructible By Reason of Beauty: The Beaumanance of a Public Library Building (PDF). Greenwood Press. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  4. ^ San Francisco Chronicle, September 2, 1925, page 12, column 1
  5. ^ Drury, Wells (March 1926). “Meetings of the Society”. California Historical Society Quarterly. V (1). San Francisco: 95. Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  • Exhibition spotlights career…
  • Edward Robeson Taylor (1898), Sonnets of Edward Robeson Taylor on some pictures painted by William Keith (Sonnets of Edward Robeson Taylor on some pictures painted by William Keith. ed.), San Francisco: Printed by the E.D. Taylor Co., OL 7056901M

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top