George Washington Aldridge II (December 28, 1856 – June 13, 1922) was a prominent politician from New York state. After serving as the Mayor of Rochester, New York, he became the boss of the Republican Party in Rochester and was influential in state politics until his death. At the end of his career, he served as the Collector of the Port of New York during the presidency of Warren G. Harding.
George Washington Aldridge II | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Collector of the Port of New York | |
| In office May 1, 1921 – June 13, 1922 | |
| President | Warren G. Harding |
| Preceded by | Byron R. Newton |
| Succeeded by | Henry C. Stuart |
| New York State Commissioner of Public Works | |
| In office January 2, 1895 – January 16, 1899 | |
| Preceded by | Edward Hannan |
| Succeeded by | John Nelson Partridge |
| 43rd Mayor of Rochester | |
| In office April 1, 1894 – January 22, 1895 | |
| Preceded by | Richard J. Curran |
| Succeeded by | Merton E. Lewis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 28, 1856 Michigan City, Indiana |
| Died | June 13, 1922 (aged 65) Harrison, New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Mary Josephine MacNamara |
| Children | 1 |
| Parent | George Washington Aldridge Sr. |
Early life
editAldridge was born on December 28, 1856, in Michigan City, Indiana. As an infant, his parents moved to Rochester, New York, where his father, George Washington Aldridge Sr. (1833–1877), later became the 38th Mayor of Rochester, serving from 1873 to 1874.[1]
He attended public schools in Rochester before attending Cary Collegiate Seminary in Oakfield, New York, and then the De Graf Military Institute in Rochester.[2] He inherited control of a construction firm from the elder George Aldridge and became a leading contractor in the city, which he used to launch his political career.[3]
Career
editLocal politics
editIn 1883, Aldridge was elected to the Executive Board of Rochester and was reelected three times serving over eleven years.[2] In this early part of his political career he had a strong reputation for improving municipal services, including the fire and police departments.[2] Through the management of his father's contacts and patronage in the expanding city government, Aldridge built a powerful machine.[4] He was elected Mayor of Rochester in 1893, and assumed office in April 1894.[5]
State politics
editIn 1888, Aldridge became a member of the New York Republican State Committee and soon thereafter was placed on the Executive Committee which he served on until his death.[2]
In January 1895,[6] Aldridge was appointed the Superintendent of Public Works by Governor (and former Vice President of the United States) Levi P. Morton. Aspiring for higher offices in the state, and losing interest in the responsibilities of the mayor's office,[7] he accepted and resigned as mayor on January 22.[8] He served as Superintendent until January 16, 1899.[9] While in office, he sought the Republican nomination to succeed Morton for governor but lost the nomination to U.S. Representative Frank S. Black, who was then elected governor. As commissioner, however, $9,000,000 "passed through his hands and it is of record that his incumbency was marked by gross mismanagement, incompetency and waste of money."[2] Black's successor as governor, Theodore Roosevelt,[10] appointed a commission to investigate Aldridge.[11] No criminal charges resulted, although the report's findings were "not complimentary".[2]
In 1902, Aldridge was appointed the Secretary of the State Railway Commission by Governor Frank W. Higgins[12][13] and remained on the commission until 1907, eventually becoming Chairman. That year it was replaced by the Public Service Commission under Governor Charles Evans Hughes.[14][15] Aldridge again sought higher office in 1910 by running in the House election in the 32nd district following the death of incumbent James Breck Perkins. He was defeated by the Democratic candidate, James S. Havens.[16][17] In 1913, Aldridge became president of the American Cement Corporation, the largest of its kind outside of New York City.[18]
Party boss
editAfter Merton E. Lewis succeeded Aldridge as acting mayor, a local Good Government League formed to promote an independent school board and other municipal improvements.[19] Aldridge's chosen successor, Hiram Edgerton, lost to Municipal Court Judge George E. Warner, a Democrat, in the 1895 election.[20] Warner was combative with the city council and both parties during his two terms, providing Aldridge with a new opportunity. He allied with the Good Government League that had previously supported Warner, and this alliance greatly influenced the local government and election results until Aldridge's death, with all of his preferred mayoral candidates being elected.[21] Rochester mayors George Carnahan and Adolph J. Rodenbeck received Aldridge's support in 1899 and 1901. In 1903 Aldridge recruited James G. Cutler to follow Rodenbeck, and Hiram Edgerton succeeded Cutler in a second bid for mayor in 1907, after which he served for seven consecutive terms.[22] In 1921, Aldridge recruited local businessman Clarence Van Zandt to run for mayor after Edgerton retired.[23]
Although he lost his bids to become a member of the U.S. Congress or Governor, Aldridge remained a well-known Republican party boss in Rochester and New York state. During the Republican administration of Governor Charles Seymour Whitman, he was a member of Whitman's "Kitchen Cabinet" and was part of a triumvirate, known as the "Big Three" that once ruled the state with Thomas C. Platt (a U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative) and Francis Hendricks (a New York State Assemblyman, Senator and Mayor of Syracuse).[2] The triumvirate later became the "Big Four" of Republican state politics with Aldridge working alongside U.S. Representative William L. Ward, Fred Greiner (veteran of Erie County), and James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr. of Western New York.[2] Aldridge was a delegate to every Republican National Convention between 1896 and 1920. At the 1920 Convention, he nominated his friend, Warren G. Harding, on the first ballot. Harding went on to win the nomination and become president.[2]
Aldridge finally reached federal office when he was nominated for Collector of the Port of New York in 1921 by President Harding. Then-Collector Byron Newton implied the nomination was a quid pro quo, sarcastically commenting "we should all admire a prompt paymaster".[24][25] Aldridge remained in the role until his death the following year.[26]
Personal life
editAldridge was married to Mary Josephine MacNamara (d. 1935). Mary was the daughter of William MacNamara and Mary (née Ready) MacNamara.[27] Together, they were the parents of one child,[28] George Washington Aldridge III (1890–1934), a 1917 Harvard graduate who served as the Commissioner of Jurors.[29] He married Edith Brooks Hunt of Cambridge, Massachusetts.[30]
Aldridge was a member of the Rochester Historical Society, the Empire State Society, the Sons of the American Revolution, and was a Mason, an Odd Fellow, an Elk, and a Knight of Pythias. He was also a member of the Rochester Club, the Genesee Valley Club, the Rochester Athletic Club, the Rochester Whist Club, the Oak Hill Country Club, the Country Club of Rochester, the Lotos Club, the Lawyers Club and Republicans Club of New York City. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the Society of the Genesee and served as president of the American Clay and Cement Corporation of Rochester, a director of the Lincoln National Bank, a member of the Rochester Municipal Art Commission and the Rochester Chamber of Commerce.[2]
Aldridge died on June 6, 1922, while he was golfing with Charles D. Hilles (chairman of the Republican National Committee), Ralph A. Day (Prohibition Commissioner for New York State), and George Sweeny (president of the Hotel Commodore), at the Westchester Biltmore Country Club in Harrison, New York, near Rye.[2] After a service at the First Presbyterian Church, he was buried alongside his father at Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester.[31]
References
edit- ^ Peck, William Farley (1908). History of Rochester and Monroe County, New York: From the Earliest Historic Times to the Beginning of 1907. Pioneer Publishing Company. pp. 56, 343, 346, 349, 350. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "GEORGE W. ALDRIDGE DIES AS HE GOLFS AT WESTCHESTER CLUB; Collector of Port, 65, and Seemingly Hale, Stricken With Apoplexy. SINKS WITHOUT A WORD Charles D. Hilles and George Sweeny Near Rochester Leader as Death Comes. ENDS PICTURESQUE CAREER Last Survivor of Big Three, Including Platt and Hendricks--Bodyto Be Taken Home Today" (PDF). The New York Times. June 14, 1922. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
- ^ Devoy, John (1895). Rochester and the Post Express - A history of the City of Rochester from the earliest times; the pioneers and their predecessors, frontier life in the Genesee country, biographical sketches; with a record of the Post Express (PDF). Rochester, New York: The Post Express Printing Company. p. 192.
- ^ McKelvey, Blake (October 1945). "Turbulent but Constructive Decades in Civic Affairs: 18674900" (PDF). Rochester History. 7 (4): 13–14, 24.
- ^ Proceedings of the Common Council of the City of Rochester, 1894-1895. Rochester Common Council. 1895. pp. 1–5.
- ^ "Mr. Aldridge and the Civil Service" (PDF). The New York Times. June 1, 1895. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ McKelvey, Blake (January 1966). "The Mayors of Rochester's Mid Years: 1860-1900" (PDF). Rochester History. 28 (1): 22.
- ^ Proceedings of the Common Council of the City of Rochester, 1894-1895. Rochester Common Council. 1895. p. 497.
- ^ "Supt. George W. Aldridge Recovering" (PDF). The New York Times. September 21, 1895. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ "Aldridge Confers With Roosevelt" (PDF). The New York Times. July 12, 1900. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ "The Vindication of Aldridge" (PDF). The New York Times. November 24, 1900. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ "RAILROAD BOARD'S CLERK.; George W. Aldridge, Commissioner of Public Works Under Gov. Black, Gets the Appointment" (PDF). The New York Times. November 26, 1902. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ "NAMES ANTI-ODELL MEN FOR NEW STATE BOARD; Higgins Makes Sheffield, Roosevelt's Friend, Lighting Head. ALDRIDGE FOR RAILROADS Ex-Senator Persons President of Water Commission -- Davies and Shedden on the Lighting Board" (PDF). The New York Times. June 6, 1905. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ "GOV. HUGHES NAMES UTILITIES BOARDS; Both Parties Represented on the New Public Service Commissions. FITNESS THE CRITERION Chronic Office Holders Notable for Their Absence -- Senate to Confirm Appointments in Extra Session" (PDF). The New York Times. June 29, 1907. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ "ALDRIDGE FOR HUGHES.; State Committeeman Makes Announcement Favoring the Governor" (PDF). The New York Times. December 19, 1907. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ "The Defeat of Aldridge" (PDF). The New York Times. April 20, 1910. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ "THE MAN WHO BEAT ALDRIDGE -- JAMES S. HAVENS; Personality of the Rochester Lawyer Who Upset a Confident Political Machine and Focussed the Eyes of the Country Upon Him" (PDF). The New York Times. April 24, 1910. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ "ALDRIDGE TO ENTER BUSINESS; Republican Boss of Rochester to Head Big Building Supply Concern" (PDF). The New York Times. March 5, 1913. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ McKelvey, Blake (July 1961). "Rochester in Retrospect and Prospect" (PDF). Rochester History. 23 (3): 15–16.
- ^ ""BOSS" ALDRIDGE DEFEATED.; Overthrow of the Odious Republican Ring in Rochester" (PDF). The New York Times. November 7, 1895. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ McKelvey, Blake (January 1969). "His Honor, the Mayor of Rochester: 1900-1928" (PDF). Rochester History. 321 (1): 2.
- ^ McKelvey, Blake (January 1969). "His Honor, the Mayor of Rochester: 1900-1928" (PDF). Rochester History. 31 (1): 2–14.
- ^ McKelvey, Blake (January 1969). "His Honor, the Mayor of Rochester: 1900-1928" (PDF). Rochester History. 31 (1): 22–24.
- ^ "ALDRIDGE CHOSEN PORT COLLECTOR; Rochester Leader Offered Post Here, but Has Not Yet Accepted. POSTMASTERSHIP HELD UP No Decision Yet Reached as to New York Appointments to Diplomatic Portfolios" (PDF). The New York Times. March 8, 1921. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ "Confirm Aldridge as Port Collector" (PDF). The New York Times. April 20, 1921. p. 3. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
- ^ "MANY MOURN DEATH OF GEORGE W. ALDRIDGE; Resolutions Adopted by Customs Associates, by Party Committee and Athletic Board" (PDF). The New York Times. June 16, 1922. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ Revolution, Daughters of the American (1917). Lineage Book - National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Daughters of the American Revolution. p. 223. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ "Mrs. George W. Aldridge" (PDF). The New York Times. November 12, 1935. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
- ^ Secretary's Report of the Harvard University Class of 1917. Harvard University. 1921. p. 216. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ "GEORGE W. ALDRIDGE DEAD IN ROCHESTER; Son of Late Republican Leader Succumbs to Brain Tumor at the Age of 44" (PDF). The New York Times. December 31, 1934. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ "GEORGE W. ALDRIDGE BURIED BESIDE FATHER; Governor Miller Heads Honorary Pallbearers--Services In Church" (PDF). The New York Times. June 17, 1922. Retrieved February 23, 2018.