Lou’s View – Oct. 29, 2015
A Mess of Mayors
by Lou Bernard
So by now, the election is over. We have a new mayor. I’d like to thank Jonathan Bravard for his service, and congratulate incoming mayor [Insert name of new mayor here, unless I forget.] It’s been an interesting election year, and I’ve been fascinated to see how it all played out.
We’ve had some fairly bizarre election years here in Lock Haven. Sixty years ago, in 1955, we had one of the more amazing ones. It was the time we went through three mayors within a period of six months.
1955 was an election year. Charles Herr, a local printer, was on his third non-consecutive term. He’d served from 1940 to 1943, and then was re-elected in 1948. Herr was a popular mayor, and served until 1955, when he turned eighty-two.
Herr had been a Democrat, but hadn’t planned on running again. The Republicans had held their primary election, which was Delbert D. Helt against Douglas H. Peddie. Helt won the primary, but Peddie wasn’t in a mood to be stopped—He quit the Republican party, changed to a Democrat, and ran for mayor on the Democratic ticket, instead, requesting write-in votes.
Meanwhile, Charles Herr was feeling his age. Not only had he decided not to run again, he wasn’t sure he was healthy enough to make it to the end of his term. The headline ran on September 30, 1955: “Mayor Charles E. Herr Resigns.”
This left Harry Swope. Swope was an accountant, and a city council member, the highest-ranking. He was the mayor of Lock Haven in the interim. So, how did he react when Herr resigned and promoted him to mayor? We’ll never know. Swope was away on vacation at the time.
Herr submitted a letter to Swope and to city council, which Swope didn’t see at the time. He was out of town. The paper said he was “Expected back before Sunday.” Harry Swope arrived home to find out that he was the mayor by reading about it in the newspaper.
By this time, the election was a month away. Swope showed no interest in running for another term, holding a write-in campaign like Peddie. He took office for the three months Herr hadn’t finished, making him the shortest-lasting mayor Lock Haven has ever had. (Outgoing mayor Jonathan Bravard is second place, and was in a similar situation. We’ll see if [I really hope I don’t forget to insert the new mayor’s name] does as well as Herr.)
Herr was known as a good mayor who made strides with the water system and the street sweepers. Swope was mainly known for not making things any worse. Seriously, there’s not a whole lot of innovative programs that you can accomplish in three months, but Swope, an accountant, did manage to keep the budget balanced.
So, are you following this? Herr resigned. Swope holding his place. Helt running. Peddie converted and also running. All within the span of a few months.
November arrived. Election Day. And, amazingly, Peddie won. The hardware salesman who’d flipped parties and run a write-in campaign became the new mayor.
On January 2, 1956, Douglas Peddie took office. Both Charles Herr and Harry Swope arrived at City Hall to congratulate him, shaking his hand as he was sworn in. Peddie was a good mayor—Swope had served three months, but Peddie managed three whole terms. He was particularly known for his work promoting nonprofit organizations, helping the Red Cross, the Clinton County Handicapped Society, the fire departments, the Lions Club, the American Legion, and the Ross Library.
Peddie’s final year as mayor was 1967, and then he retired and let Jay Young take over. He passed away in 1976. Herr and Swope had been gone for years by then—Herr died in December of 1957, and Swope exactly two weeks later, following Herr right to the end. Their portraits hang in the chamber at city hall, a part of Lock Haven’s history. Just like [Seriously, it’s important to fill in the new mayor’s name. I cannot stress this enough.] will be one day.
