Mark M. Fagan
{{Short description|American politician (1869–1955)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Mark Matthew Fagan
| image = Mark M Fagan 001.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth date|1869|09|29}}
| birth_place = Jersey City, New Jersey
| death_date = {{death date and age|1955|07|16|1869|09|29}}
| death_place = Jersey City, New Jersey
| residence = Jersey City, New Jersey
| office = Mayor of Jersey City
| order = 27th and 29th
| term_start= 1902
| term_end= 1907
| predecessor = Edward Hoos
| successor = H. Otto Wittpenn
| term_start2 = 1913
| term_end2 = 1917
| predecessor2 = H. Otto Wittpenn
| successor2 = Frank Hague
| party = Independent Democrat
Republican
| spouse =
| children =
| website =
}}
Mark Matthew Fagan (September 29, 1869 – July 16, 1955) was an Irish Catholic mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, United States, from 1902 to 1907 and 1913 to 1917.{{cite news |title=Jersey City's New Mayor. Mark M. Fagan Makes Public His Appointments. Office Holders Selected from the Democratic as Well as the Republican Party. |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D0DEFDE103EE333A25752C0A9679C946397D6CF |quote=Mark M. Fagan, Jersey City's new Republican Mayor, will enter upon his duties at noon today, when he and Edward Hoos, the retiring Mayor, who is a Democrat, will receive calls together in the Mayor's office at the City Hall. Mayor Fagan announced his appointments yesterday. |work=New York Times |date=January 1, 1901 |accessdate=2008-04-23 }}
Biography
He was born on September 29, 1869, in Jersey City. He had little formal education, and as a youth, he worked for his uncle as an undertaker. A Republican, he entered politics while still in his twenties becoming a county freeholder though he was not re-elected.
In 1901, Republican Party boss, Colonel Samuel D. Dickinson, asked him to run for mayor, which Fagan did and won becoming the 27th mayor of Jersey City. At age 32, he was the youngest mayor elected in Jersey City until that time and only the fifth Republican. He was re-elected for three consecutive two-year terms however, after feuding with his own party, he was defeated for re-election in 1907 by H. Otto Wittpenn. He unsuccessfully ran again in 1909.
In 1913, Jersey City went to a city commission form of government, and Fagan was elected commissioner. He was then chosen by his colleagues to be mayor once more. As mayor, he was famous for building schools. In 1917, he stepped down as mayor, retired from politics and continued his career as an undertaker.
Political boss Frank Hague succeeded him as mayor. It would be 75 years before another Republican, Bret Schundler, would be elected mayor of Jersey City.{{cite news|last=Sullivan|first=Joseph F.|date=1993-05-12|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DF163BF931A25756C0A965958260|title=Mayor of Jersey City Wins Re-election|work=New York Times}}
Fagan died on July 16, 1955, and was buried in Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.[http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/NJ/HU.html#RBE0UG7DM Holy Name Cemetery], The Political Graveyard. Accessed August 15, 2007.{{cite news |title=Ex-Mayor Fagan Ill in Jersey |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/03/19/archives/exmayor-pagan-ill-in-jersey.html |work=New York Times |date=March 19, 1955 |accessdate=2008-04-23 }}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Noble, Ransom E. New Jersey Progressivism Before Wilson (Princeton UP, 1946) [https://archive.org/details/newjerseyprogres0000nobl/page/n19/mode/1up online].
External links
- Chapter 1 of Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens
- {{Find a Grave|9151618}}
{{JrsyCtyMayors}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fagan, Mark M.}}
Category:20th-century mayors of places in New Jersey
Category:Mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Category:New Jersey Republicans
Category:American people of Irish descent
Category:Burials at Holy Name Cemetery (Jersey City, New Jersey)
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