Lou’s View

By Lou Bernard

When I need ideas for a column, the mayors of Lock Haven always come through for me.

I have a list of them, all the mayors. I mean, there have been mayors from other communities, too—Renovo, Mill Hall—But something about the Lock Haven mayors just fascinates me. There’s something about seeing the whole chronological list of them that makes me want to write about all the facts.

Our first mayor was Levi Mackey. He was a banker, and largely responsible for the early financial success of Lock Haven. He was elected in 1870. Lock Haven was founded in 1833, but it was a borough at the time—In 1870, it was incorporated as a third-class city, and that included a city council and a mayor. Mackeyville was named after Levi Mackey in his honor.

The oldest mayor was Edgar Heffner, who was sixty-nine at the time he was elected in 1944. The youngest was William Johns, elected in 1971, who was twenty-five at the time. Winfield Clawater, twenty-nine when he was elected in 1881, was the second-youngest. Clawater resigned in grief due to the death of his baby daughter, Bessie.

The youngest death of a former Lock Haven mayor was William Elliot, who died at age forty-five from Bright’s Disease not long after resigning as mayor.

Lock Haven has only ever had one mayor die in office. John Wynn served one year in 1892, and died. City Hall was draped in black in his memory. William Mayer took over as mayor, and then was re-elected for a second term.

Almost all of the mayors have been either Democrat or Republican, with one exception. William Sperring, elected in 1928, is the only Independent mayor Lock Haven has ever had. Almost all of them have been male, as well, except for Diann Steumpfle, who served two terms from 1984 to 1991—Our only female mayor.

You may have noticed the name William coming up a lot. That’s because more Lock Haven mayors have been named William than anything else. Out of thirty-eight Lock Haven mayors, nine of them have been named William. Second place is John—There have been four Johns. But we love electing Williams in this city.

The longest mayor was Rick Vilello, who served fifteen years from 200 to 2015. The shortest (in terms of time served; I’m not about to run around researching mayor heights) was Harry Swope, who took over for Charles Herr when Herr resigned three months before the end of his term. The other candidates had already been selected; it was close to the election, and Swope held the term until mayor Douglas Peddie took office in 1956.

George Hobson Kreamer was our first mayor elected in November—Up until 1911, the Lock Haven elections were held in February.

A couple of our mayors have been elected non-consecutively. The most dramatic one—The longest time between terms—Was William Sperring, who took over for William Elliott and served in 1902. Then he took twenty-six years off, and ran in 1928, winning the term.

Twenty-one mayors are buried in Highland Cemetery, meaning that more mayors are buried in Highland than anywhere else. A couple are buried in Dunnstown, Cedar Hill, and Rest Haven. John Wynn is buried in Erie, and Winfield Clawater is buried in Ithaca, New York.

And the most interesting mayor? You know, they’re all pretty fascinating. I think I’m going to have to declare that one a thirty-eight way tie.