- James S. Lithgow
James Smith Lithgow (
November 29 ,1812 —February 21 ,1902 ) was the sixteenth Mayor ofLouisville, Kentucky fromJanuary 2 ,1866 toFebruary 14 ,1867 . He was born inPittsburgh and apprenticed as acoppersmith there.He moved to Louisville in 1832 and worked various jobs before starting "Wallace & Lithgow", a metals company on Market Street in 1836. The business was successful, and made Lithgow wealthy. After the death of Wallace in 1861, the company became "J.S. Lithgow and Co." and built its headquarters at what became the Board of Trade Building, initially one of the largest and most expensive buildings in
Downtown Louisville . Lithgow lost both the building and his business in thePanic of 1873 , but he regained his fortune with a new company, "Lithgow Manufacturing Co.".A Democrat, Lithgow was elected to the City Council in 1849, and was a member of the convention to draft a new city charter in 1866. After
Philip Tomppert was impeached by the city council in 1866, that same body elected Lithgow mayor. He resigned when a state appeals court reinstated Tomppert onFebruary 14 1867 .He had eight children with wife Hannah Cragg, and is buried in
Cave Hill Cemetery .References
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