Answer: Rudolph Blankenburg. 

The Republican Party controlled Philadelphia and the mayor’s office from 1860 to 1952.  One exception was the mayoralty of Rudolph Blankenburg, a German-born Quaker, who was known as the “Old War Horse of Reform.”

Blankenburg was born near Hannover, Germany on February 16, 1843. He came to America in 1865 settling in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.  He established a successful dry goods business, and became active in local politics. He supported Republican candidates at the national level, but fought the political bosses, including Matthew Quay and Boies Penrose, in Pennsylvania.

Public dissatisfaction with both the Republican and Democrat candidates for governor in 1910 resulted in the creation of third party, known as the Keystone party.  The Keystone candidate was unsuccessful in that election, but the following year the Keystoners nominated Blankenburg for mayor, and the Democrats later endorsed him, as well.  Blankenburg won the election, but with a slim margin.  He won by campaigning as a Republican reformer… to save the Republican Party from machine control.

Blankenburg promised a nonpartisan administration that would be run following business principles, with experts, not politicians, running the key departments.  He and his cabinet improved financial management, modernized office routines and established paid vacations and other benefits for city workers. The old Civil Service Commission was reorganized and a low-bid contract policy with quality specifications and rigorous work inspection was established. He started comprehensive transit planning, and pushed for port improvements.

HSP holds a collection of Blankenburg Papers (#1613), and a set of scrapbooks with clippings on his public career. We also have a biography written by Blankenburg’s wife, Lucretia, who was a campaigner for women’s suffrage, other works both by and about Rudolph Blankenburg, and a number of images.