James Stephens Speed

His father, John Speed, moved to Jefferson County in about 1795 and established a farm on Salt River Rd. (which became Dixie Highway), about 9 miles south of Louisville. James Speed moved to Louisville in his late teens and within a few years became a partner in a building and railroad contracting firm, Pickett and Speed.

He was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1843, and appointed a United States marshal by president Zachary Taylor in 1849. He was served as mayor of Louisville from April 26, 1852, to April 1855. The rules governing the office were confusing, and Speed was actually re-elected by popular vote each year of his term yet never awarded an election certificate. Speed argued that his original election meant his term lasted until 1856, but a resolution in 1855 called for a new election that year. The election was won by the Know-Nothing candidate, John Barbee. Speed did not run in the election and believed that he would remain mayor anyway, but Barbee was recognized as mayor by the city council, overriding Speed's veto. Speed appealed but ultimately lost at the Kentucky Supreme Court.{{citation needed|date=January 2010}}

The Know-Nothings were inspired by editorials of the Louisville Daily Courier, which opposed Speed for his Catholicism (he was a Catholic convert for his marriage), a major local controversy of the time (Speed was the first Catholic mayor).{{cite book |last1=Ford |first1=Bridget |title=Bonds of Union: Religion, Race, and Politics in a Civil War Borderland |date=2016 |publisher=UNC Press Books |isbn=9781469626239 |page=26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hmI3CwAAQBAJ |language=en}} In 1856 Speed moved to Chicago, where he spent the remainder of his life. As mayor, he was chiefly concerned with public works projects, such as the water works and street improvement. ={{citation needed|date=January 2010}}

Speed died on August 7, 1860, in Chicago.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102807345/the-death-of-james-s-speed-10-aug/ |title=The Death of James S. Speed |date=1860-08-10 |newspaper=The Louisville Daily Courier |page=1 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2022-05-29}}{{Open access}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|title=Two Hundred Years at the Fall of the Ohio: A History of Louisville and Jefferson County|last=Yater|first=George H.|year=1987|publisher=Filson Club, Incorporated|location=Louisville, Kentucky|edition=2nd|isbn=0-9601072-3-1}}
• {{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Louisville|edition=1|year=2001|article=Speed, James Stephens}}

• {{commons category-inline}}

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{{succession box|title=Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky|before=John M. Delph|after=John Barbee|years=1852–1855}}

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Category:1811 births

Category:1860 deaths

Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism

Category:Law enforcement officials from Kentucky

Category:Members of the Kentucky House of Representatives

Category:Mayors of Louisville, Kentucky

Category:Politicians from Louisville, Kentucky

Category:United States Marshals

Category:19th-century mayors of places in Kentucky

Category:19th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly