Quick Facts
Biography
Elias Warner Leavenworth (December 20, 1803 Canaan, Columbia County, New York – November 25, 1887 Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York) was an American lawyer and politician.
Biography
He moved with his parents to Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1806.
Education
He attended the Hudson Academy and graduated from Yale College in 1824. He studied law in Great Barrington and at the Litchfield Law School from 1825 to 1827.
Law practice
He was admitted to the bar in 1827 and practiced law in Syracuse, New York for 20 years until 1850, when he abandoned the practice because of ill health.
Militia
He passed through the various grades and was appointed brigadier general of militia in 1836.
Personal life
Leavenworth was married to the daughter of Judge Joshua Forman, the founder of Syracuse.
His principal home, a mansion at 607 James Street in Syracuse, New York, was a significant Greek Revival style structure where he received visitors of national and international stature. The home was built on the first lot sold on James Street and completed in 1842. It was designed by renowned Syracuse architect, Deacon Elijah Hayden who was assisted by William B. Cogswell, a draftsman. Unfortunately, the Leavenworth Mansion was demolished in 1950 to make way for an office building.
Political life
In 1839, he was named supervisor of the old town of Salina, the first election at which the Democrats had been beaten for 15 years.
He was president of Syracuse village from 1839 to 1841 and in 1846 and 1847, and was mayor of the town in 1849, 1850, 1859, and 1860.
Leavenworth was a Whig member of the New York State Assembly (Onondaga Co., 3rd D.) in 1850 and 1857; and was Secretary of State of New York from 1854 to 1855. He was Chairman of the Republican State convention of 1860.
In 1861 President Abraham Lincoln appointed Leavenworth commissioner for the United States under the convention with Granadine Confederation in Washington, D.C. in 1861 and 1862.
He was appointed president of the board of commissioners to locate the State asylum for the blind and a trustee of the State asylum for the insane in 1865, and was a member of the New York and New Jersey Boundary Line Commission in 1875.
Leavenworth was elected as a Republican to the Forty-fourth United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1875 to March 3, 1877. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1876 and resumed business activities in Syracuse.
Syracuse parks
A resolution he introduced in 1888 procured Vanderbilt Square for the city of Syracuse. Additionally he persuaded the railroad to plant rows of trees on each side of the railroad from Beech Street to the heart of the city and install the first public sewer.
He was considered father of the park system of the city. Fayette Park was obtained through his efforts. About 1860, Leavenworth Park was named after him.
Later life
He died on November 25, 1887 in Syracuse, New York and was buried at the Oakwood Cemetery.