Frank K. Mott
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Frank Kanning Mott (January 21, 1866 — 1958) was the 35th mayor of
Oakland, California!
Mott was born in San Francisco on January 21, 1866,(! but his family
moved to nearby Oakland when he was two years old. His father, who
worked for the Central Pacific Railroad (later Southern Pacific Railroad),
died when he was 11. To support the family, Mott quit school and worked
as a messenger boy for Western Union and then as a telephone operator, the
first ever in Oakland, according to his obituary in the Tribune.{] He entered
the hardware business as a clerk at the age of 16, eventually becoming the
sole proprietor of Frank K. Mott Co. He entered politics in 1894 when
then-Mayor George Pardee appointed him to the city council to fill H.P.
Dalton's vacant seat.{] He went on to serve two more terms before elected
Mayor in 1905 1JI3)
Mayor Frank K. Mott
Mott, known as "The Mayor Who Built Oakland", presided over the
greatest disaster relief operation in Oakland when an estimated 150,000 people sought refuge in the city after the
1906 earthquake in San Francisco, He was re-elected in 1907 by a six-to-one margin, defeating Socialist O.H.
Phillbrick, 7,317 to 1,226, and re-elected to the third term in 1909, defeating Citizens’ Party candidate FF. Jackson
8,352 to 6,045. Following the adoption of a new city charter establishing a city commission government in 1910,
‘Mott won the 1911 election by defeating Socialist opponent Thomas Booth, 11,722 to 9,837. In a fascinating but
little-known chapter of Oakland history, Mott survived the city's first recall election, initiated by the radical
Industrial Workers of the World, on August 5, 1912, with 17,139 voting in favor of keeping Mott in office, and
10,846 against.{31
He achieved, in 1909, final resolution of the waterfront issue which had preoccupied the leaders of Oakland since
the city's founding, with a negotiated agreement with Souther Pacific. The railroad gave up its rights to the
waterfront in exchange for a fifty-year franchise on the property it then held. In 1909, Mayor Mott welcomed
President William H. ‘Taft to Oakland, The Mayor laid the comerstone for the present City Hall. The massive
harbor improvements which immediately followed were part of an unprecedented era of public works projects,
including the dredging of Lake Merritt, the building of the current City Hall and the Civic Auditorium (now known,
as the Kaiser Convention Center), establishment of the pioneering Oakland Public Museum in the Josiah Stanford
(now Camron-Stanford) House, and vast expansion and improvements to sewers, streets, lighting, electricity,
and police protection. Mayor Mott retired in 1915.2)
On January 10, 1911, Mott married Mrs. Gertrude Bennett in San Francisco.!4 His family lived at three different
addresses while he was mayor—1066 Jackson (1905-08), 1509 Webster (1909-1911), and 276 Lee Street in
Adams Point (1912-1939)—all since demolished.!3] He served as the city's right-of-way agent from 1927 until his
death on December 16, 1958, at the age of 92, at the Athens Athletic Club. An Episcopalian, Mott was cremated
following his funeral at the Chapel of the Oaks under the auspices of Masonic Lodge 61
References
1. "Frank Mott - The Man Who Built Oakland", Camron-Stanford House. Retrieved October 17, 2009.2. "Named President of Oakland's Council; Frank K, Mott Wins the Election". San Francisco Chronicle. April 7, 1896.
p. 10.
3. "Mayor's nuptials not an Oakland first". Oakland Tribune, April 4, 2008. p. 1.
4. Press Reference Library: Notables of the Southwest. Los Angeles Times. 1912. p. 399,
External links
= Guide to the Frank Kanning Mott Papers (http://www. oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf0)49n4n2/) at The
Bancroft Library
= Frank K, Mott portrait (http://collections.museumea.org/?q=collection-item/h7458 105) at the Oakland
Museum of California
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.phptitle=Frank_K, Mott&oldid=746886306"
Categories: Mayors of Oakland, California | Oakland City Council members | 1866 births | 1958 deaths
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