Franklin Edson

Franklin Edson (April 5, 1832 – September 24, 1904) was the 85th Mayor of New York from 1883 to 1884.

Born in Chester, Vermont, he was educated at the local schools and the academy in Chester.

At age 20 Edson moved to Albany to work in his brother Cyrus' distillery, becoming a partner three years later.

He left the distillery after his brother's death and started a produce business, which he relocated to New York City in 1866. His venture proved successful during the American Civil War, making Edson wealthy and enabling him to engage in civic, religious and charitable causes. He was an active Episcopalian and a member of Saint James Church Fordham, in the Bronx.

In 1873 he became one of the city's most important business leaders when he was appointed President of the New York Produce Exchange.

An anti-Tammany Democrat, in 1882 he was nominated for Mayor through the efforts of Tammany Hall boss John Murphy to avoid a Democratic Party split between organization loyalists and reformers. Upon taking office in 1883, he angered reformers by appointing Tammany men to key jobs, but he soon embraced civil service reform and other honest government measures.

During his term the Brooklyn Bridge was dedicated, the Manhattan Municipal Building was constructed, and work was completed on the city's new water supply, the Croton Aqueduct. He appointed the commission responsible for the selection and location of public lands for parks in the Bronx, which came to include Van Cortlandt, Bronx, Pelham Bay, Crotona, Claremont and St. Mary's Parks, and the Mosholu, Bronx River, Pelham, and Crotona Parkways.

After Edson split with Tammany the 1884 Democratic nomination for Mayor went William Russell Grace, who had also preceded Edson as Mayor, and Edson retired from politics at the completion of his term in 1885.

After leaving the mayor's office, Edson returned to his business interests and continued his philanthropic activities.

He died at his home in Manhattan, and was buried in the Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands, New York.

Edson Avenue in the Bronx is named for him.

In 1856 Edson married Fanny Cameron Wood. Fanny Wood was the daughter of Jethro Wood, the inventor of the first commercially successful iron moldboard plow. Their children included: Cyrus; David; Franklin; Henry; Robert; Edith; and Ethel.

In 1903 son Henry made headlines after he shot and killed a woman at his New York City home and then committed suicide. Henry Edson and the woman were each married, but had been having an affair, and Edson became distraught when she refused to leave her husband and depart the New York City area with him.