1853 Chicago mayoral election

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{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}

{{Infobox election

| election_name = Chicago mayoral election, 1853

| country =

| type = presidential

| ongoing = no

| previous_year = 1852

| next_year = 1854

| election_date = March 14, 1853

| image1 = File:Charlesgray (a).jpeg

| candidate1 = Charles McNeill Gray

| party1 = Democratic Party (United States)

| running_mate1 =

| colour1 =

| popular_vote1 = 3,270

| percentage1 = 77.10%

| image2 = File:3x4.svg

| candidate2 = Josiah L. James

| party2 =

| colour2 =

| running_mate2 =

| popular_vote2 = 971

| percentage2 = 22.90%

| map_image =

| map_size =

| map_caption =

| title = Mayor

| before_election = Walter S. Gurnee

| before_party = Democratic Party (United States)

| after_election = Charles McNeill Gray

| after_party = Democratic Party (United States)

}}

{{ElectionsIL}}

In the 1853 Chicago mayoral election, Charles McNeill Gray defeated Josiah L. James in a landslide, winning by a 54-point margin.

Incumbent mayor Walter S. Gurnee did not run for reelection.

The election was held on March 14.{{cite web |title=Mayor Charles McNeill Gray Biography |url=https://www.chipublib.org/mayor-charles-mcneill-gray-biography/ |website=www.chipublib.org |publisher=Chicago Public Library |access-date=2 January 2021}}

Josiah L. James was a businessman in the lumber industry.{{cite book |last1=Theodore Andreas |first1=Alfred |title=History of Chicago: From the fire of 1871 until 1885 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CqI4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA373 |page=373|access-date=15 March 2019 |date=1886|isbn=9780832857249 }}{{cite book |last1=Hotchkiss |first1=George Woodward |title=History of the Lumber and Forest Industry of the Northwest |date=1898 |publisher=G.W. Hotchkiss & Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U5c4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA691 |page=691| access-date=15 March 2019}}{{cite book |title=Industrial Chicago: The commercial interests |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HqoyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA141 |publisher=Goodspeed Publishing Company | page=141| access-date=15 March 2019 |date=1894}}