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Mayor of Fort Wayne
On the record
Often miscited as the longest-serving mayor; his combined service was about 15 years. Died in office (kidney infection), 9 May 1954, in his fourth term.
Baals came to the chair from the post office — postmaster from 1922 to 1931 — and ran the city like an administrator: he consolidated departments and cut tax rates, and built underground — the city's underground sewer system and its sewage treatment plant are his administration's works. In 1936 his city put some 4,000 people to work on WPA money of $2,322,000 (INGenWeb's account). Through the war years he ran the materials drives, and he broke ground for Baer Field. He died in office — a kidney ailment, at Parkview, on 9 May 1954 — and the Nickel Plate elevation he had championed was dedicated on 4 October 1955, after his death.
Find them on this page
- § 04 — the mayoral roster
Roster cross-checked between the City of Fort Wayne’s official mayors page and the full dated list — sources printed under the roster in § 04. Further sources: INGenWeb, Harry A. Baals biography; Chicago Tribune obituary, 13 July 2015.