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Name:    Taylor, Daniel G.
Mayor
Profession:  Mayor
Category:  Politics and Government    (Number 17)
Term as Mayor:    1861-1863
Born/Started:     Nov. 15, 1819
Died/Ended:     Oct. 08, 1878
Description:    Daniel G. Taylor was the 17th mayor of St. Louis, serving during the Civil War from 1861 to 1863. Born in Cincinnati, Mr. Taylor took an active interest in the government of St. Louis from the time he first arrived. He was a member of the City Council in 1852, 1854 and 1855. He ran for mayor on the "Union Anti-Black Republican" ticket, and defeated former Mayor John How.

Mayor Taylor’s administration was largely consumed with financial challenges brought on by the Civil War and Missouri’s status as a border state. The Unionists in St. Louis expressed fear that southern sympathizers might try to take the government´s treasure from the Federal Building and the 60,000 muskets stored at the arsenal. Missouri´s pro-southern Governor Jackson established a soldiers´ camp near Grand and Lindell Avenues. Captain Lyon of the federal forces demanded surrender of the camp. General Frost of the state forces accepted the terms. As Lyon prepared to take his men, the prisoners, and the loot to the arsenal, a crowd gathered. Rocks were thrown, a gun was fired; and firing became general. The crowd was in rage and, in a few minutes, 28 people were killed and many more were injured.

All commerce on the Mississippi with the South ceased, and many St. Louisans were unemployed. $120,000 was appropriated for employing laborers on the streets and similar public work. A dispensary was set up to furnish free medical advice and medicines to the indigent sick. The old County Court House at Broadway and Market Streets was completed in 1862 and the City moved its offices into the north wing. Mayor Taylor sent a circular to the City´s creditors explaining the City’s financial troubles and requesting their support..

Taylor came to St. Louis to work on the Mississippi steamboats. He became a riverboat captain and was muster of the steamer "Clairmont" which went up the Yellowstone River in 1845 on a trading expedition for Pierre Chouteau´s American Fur Company. Captain Taylor continued as a boat master until 1849. He had just purchased a boat furnishing business when the great fire of 1849 destroyed the store. Then he set up the steamboat agency of Taylor and Hopkins. Later he became head of the wholesale firm of Taylor and Horrington. He married Miss Angelique Henri, who died in a riverboat explosion in 1858. They had two children. In 1860 he married Miss Emilie Lebeau and they had three children.

After leaving the office of mayor, Taylor was elected city treasurer in 1870 and 1872. He was president of the Boatmen´s Insurance and Trust Company, and of the Real Estate Savings Institution. He died in St. Louis on October 8, 1878, and burial was at Calvary Cemetery.


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