MAYOR TRUDEL AND THE BOARD OF MAYOR AND ALDERMEN, 1924-1925

On June 9, 1846, Daniel Clark of Manchester presented a petition to the New Hampshire State Legislature for a city charter. On June 30, 1846 an act was passed which established the City of Manchester. The first city election occurred on August 19, 1846. Four candidates stood for office: Hiram Brown, Whig; William C. Clarke, Democrat; Thomas Brown, Abolition and William Shepherd. There was no clear choice. Therefore, a second election for mayor occurred on September 1, 1846. The candidates were Hiram Brown, Isaac C. Flanders, Democrat and Thomas Brown. Hiram Brown was duly elected as the first Mayor of Manchester. At the time the first city government was organized, the valuation of the city was $3,187,726 and the population was 10,125.

The administrative and executive powers of the city are vested in the mayor. The mayor is elected for a term of two years and must be a resident of the city for at least a year prior to filing for the office of mayor. The mayor has the power to supervise the administrative affairs of Manchester and shall be the presiding officer at all meetings of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

Mayors since 1971 have been obligated to deliver all records and documents belonging to the Office of the Mayor to the Office of the City Clerk. The Manchester Municipal Archives holds the papers of eleven mayors from Josaphat Benoit to Frank Guinta, (1944-2009). The files are arranged alphabetically by topic within the mayoral subgroup of each individual.


Josephat T. Benoit, 1944-1961 Description

Roland S. Vallee, 1964-1967 Description

John C. Mongan, 1968-1969 Description

Henry J. Pariseau, 1970 Description

Charles R. "Dick" Stanton, 1970-1971, 1975-1981 Description

Sylvio L. Dupuis, 1972-1975 Description

Emile D. Beaulieu, 1982-1983, 1988-1989 Description

Robert F. Shaw, 1984-1987 Description

Raymond J. Wieczorek, 1990-1999 Description

Robert A. Baines, 2000-2005 Description

Frank C. Guinta, 2006-2009 Description