
Franklin Edson (5 April 1832-24 September 1904) was the Democratic Mayor of New York City from 1883 to 1884, interrupting William Russell Grace's terms.
Biography[]
Franklin Edson was born in Chester, Vermont in 1832, and he partnered in his brother's distillery in Albany, New York before starting a produce business in New York City during the American Civil War. He became president of the New York Produce Exchange in 1873, and he became involved in politics as a Tammany Hall Democrat. Edson was elected Mayor in 1883, and, while he appointed Tammany men to public offices, he soon turned against them and embraced the cause of reform. He lost Tammany Hall's endorsement in 1884, and he died twenty years later.