John Francis Fitzgerald Honey Fitz Mayor of Boston, 1863-1950
No. 182 John Francis Fitzgerald Published in Dorchester Day, Celebration of the Two Hundred and Seventy-Seventh Anniversary of the Settlement of Dorchester, June 8th, 1907. (Boston, 1907)
Fitzgerald moved to Dorchester to live in a stately home on Welles Avenue.
No. 20956 Fitzgerald House on Welles Avenue in the process of demolition, The Boston Globe, April 26, 1939
The following is from Mayors of Boston. Boston: Printed for the State Street Trust Company, 1914.
Thirty-fourth Mayor, 1906-07, 1910-11-12-13
John Francis Fitzgerald was the mayor of Boston when this brochure was on the press. He enjoys the distinction of probably being the most energetic incumbent that has yet held the office of mayor. Since he has been mayor, he has left no stone unturned to make Boston one of the great seaports of the coast, as well as a greater manufacturing and industrial centre. In and out of New England he has advocated the bringing of new steamship lines to Boston, the improvement of harbor facilities, the building of better wharves, and the creation of many lines of civic work that would make Boston bigger and busier.
He has provided the means for every citizen to voice the needs of his particular section by establishing a series of district town meetings in different sections of the city, which were not represented in the City Council by the aldermen-at-large. To accomplish this, the mayor and City Council hold a meeting at various periods of the year in those sections, at which any citizen has an opportunity to present his grievance or request. These meetings have been popular, and frequently a unanimous vote of thanks has been given by those people who have been concerned in the meeting. Mayor Fitzgerald has enthusiastically advocated opening commercial negotiations with South America, urging that the schools should teach Spanish, so that the younger generation would be able to further our commercial relations with the Southern Republics.
Mayor Fitzgerald has also been active in humanitarian affairs, providing free rides on the ferry for the poor on hot nights and having the Fire Department flush the streets at intervals during intensely hot weather. The efficiency of the Board of Health has also been increased by adding a corps of ten nurses under a medical inspector for the care of diseases dangerous to the public health. To him also thanks are due for awakening a civic interest in the festival of Christmas, observing it officially by a celebration on the Boston Common, which has been enthusiastically attended by many.
In short, to use the mayor?s own words, ?I have not been content merely to fulfil [sic] the letter of the duties of the mayor?s office, but I have endeavored by every means to make the city better and more prosperous.?
He was born February 11, 1863, in the North End, where he is said to have a speaking acquaintance with every man, woman, and child, and was educated at the Eliot Grammar School, the Boston Latin School, and had one year at the Harvard Medical School. For a brief period he was employed in the Custom House, but soon left to give his attention to business and politics. He went into the real estate and insurance business, and was not long engaged when he was looked upon as one of the most successful young men in that line in the whole city. He spent considerable time and much thought in becoming acquainted with and gaining the good-will of every one in his ward who had a vote. Taking a keen interest in the personal affairs of all in his district, not only did he keep a card index of men needing work and employ a secretary to look after them, but he was wont to go out personally and look for work for the unemployed n his district. So that his practical efforts for the poor of his district, as well as his social qualities, have created a body of devoted and grateful admirers and followers upon whose support he can always count.
He served as a member of the Boston Common Council in 1892, and the Massachusetts Senate 1893-94, the 54th, 55th, 56th Congresses from 1895-1901, and for six years has been mayor of his city, having been first elected in 1905. He obtained his first election by defeating the organization forces in twenty-one out of the twenty-five wards of the city.
During his administration the High School of Commerce has been opened, and the School of Practical Arts for Girls, and the Consumptives? Hospital established. He inaugurated the Saturday half-holiday for city employees, has built many playgrounds, the Charlestown Armory, new bath-houses, increased the pay of laborers, wood-blocked Washington Street, and started the annex to the City Hall. During his term the subway was opened to Cambridge, and underground rapid transit developed in other ways. New streets and sewers have been added, the water front enlarged, Arlington Street widened, the Zoo and Aquarium opened at Franklin Park, and the soil of Boston Common renewed. Mayor Fitzgerald is married, and has a large family. He is a fluent public speaker, and has a genial manner and much magnetism.
His life is an illustration of the heights to which one can rise who has indomitable pluck.