The mayoral line

1899 — PRESENT

The line is anchored at both ends, with the middle honestly open: The first mayors stand in the entry above: Manuel Fisher (1899–1902) and Melville Mix, elected 1902. By October 1908 Charles Frank was mayor — he received Vice President Fairbanks's visit on October 28, 1908, and presided over the Historical Pageant the following July. The line resumes, verified, at mid-century: Joseph Canfield, a Democrat, won the mayoralty in 1959 with the largest margin in the city's history to that date. In the election of November 5, 1963, Margaret "Maggie" Prickett, Republican, beat Canfield 7,561 to 5,815 — Mishawaka's first woman mayor, and only the third woman elected mayor in Indiana. Prickett served sixteen years, 1964 to 1979, the longest-serving woman mayor in Indiana history at the time; her building program gave the city the Merrifield complex, pool and rink, in 1968, and her annexation of the University Park Mall site is treated in the land entry below. Bob Kovach, Democrat, won in 1979 and served one term — the only Democratic mayor between 1963 and the present day. Robert C. Beutter, Republican, elected in November 1983, served from 1984 to 2003 — five terms, twenty years — the longest mayoralty in the city's record; the riverfront park that carries the modern downtown bears his name, and he died on January 2, 2020. Jeff Rea followed for about six years (2004–2010) and resigned in August 2010 to become president and chief executive of the St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce. Dave Wood — eleven or twelve years a councilman from the Second District and a 1st Source Bank vice president before it — was chosen by the Republican precinct committee to fill the vacancy and sworn in on September 7, 2010; he was elected in his own right in 2011 and re-elected thereafter, and he holds the office today. He is counted the city's twenty-first mayor.

Sources:

1. Peter J. De Kever, Mishawaka: A History — Fisher, Mix and Frank; Canfield's 1959 margin; the 1963 election figures and Prickett's sixteen years and Merrifield building; Kovach; Beutter's five terms; Rea's resignation and Wood's succession in outline.
2. Obituary of Robert C. Beutter — mayor of Mishawaka 1984–2003; died January 2, 2020. Congressional Record, April 29, 2016 — Beutter first took office as mayor in 1984, five terms totaling twenty years.
3. Dave Wood, State of the City address, February 21, 2011 — in office since September 7, 2010, after his council service and bank career.
4. Accelerate Indiana Municipalities (Aim) — Dave Wood as Mishawaka's twenty-first mayor; his Aim presidency for 2025, entered in the government entry below.