Philip Becker

Philip Becker
Portrait of Philip Becker
32nd and 40th Mayor of Buffalo
In office 1876–1877, 1886–1889
Preceded by	Lewis P. Dayton, Jonathan Scoville
Succeeded by	Solomon Scheu, Charles F. Bishop
Personal details
Born	April 25, 1830 Oberotterbach, Kingdom of Bavaria
Died	July 4, 1898(1898-07-04) (aged 68) Buffalo, New York, United States
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Sarah Goetz
Children	no children

Philip Becker (1830–1898) was mayor of Buffalo, New York, serving 1876–1877 and 1886–1889. He was born in Oberotterbach, Kingdom of Bavaria, on April 25, 1830. He graduated from college in Germany at sixteen years of age. In 1847, Philip and his older brother were provided the means to pay the fare to America and he settled in Buffalo, where his aunt and uncle lived. In 1852, he married Sarah Goetz. He entered the retail and wholesale grocery business. A Republican in politics, his election as mayor on November 2, 1875, was followed quickly by his nomination as a delegate to the 1876 Republican National Convention which successfully nominated Rutherford B. Hayes for the presidency. It was also during his first term, in March 1876, that the new County and City Hall was opened.

Becker was defeated by Solomon Scheu in the election of 1877, but was reelected to a second term in 1885 and to a third in 1887. At the end of his third term, he did not seek re-election. He returned to his business enterprises and retired in 1893. Becker died on July 4, 1898, with an estate valued over $750,000. He was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery under a truncated obelisk of polished black Quincy granite crafted by McDonnell & Sons which, at a weight of 48 tons, was the largest such piece of polished stone ever to have been manufactured at the time.

Becker is arguably most historically notable as a pioneer in, and champion of, German culture in Buffalo. Not only was he the first German-American to be elected as the city's mayor, but he was also instrumental in organizing the Buffalo German Insurance Company in 1867, serving as its president from 1869 until his death, and during the period between his first and second terms championed the construction of the Buffalo Music Hall on Main Street and the selection of Buffalo as the site of the 1883 German Sängerfest.

Gallery

• 
  Headquarters of the Buffalo German Insurance Company, co-founded by Becker in 1867
• 
  County and City Hall, opened in 1876 during Becker's first term as mayor
• 
  Buffalo Music Hall on Main Street, site of the 1883 German Sängerfest
• 
  Becker depicted in a December 1885 issue of the Buffalo Evening News
• 
  Becker's home on Delaware Avenue, in which he lived from 1886 until his death
• 
  Becker's gravesite at Forest Lawn Cemetery

Further reading

• Holli, Melvin G., and Peter D'A. Jones, eds. Biographical Dictionary of American Mayors 1820-1980, (1981) pp.21–22.