The term city fathers is used to mean two things: firstly (and most commonly), it denotes a member of a municipal council over a city. Secondly, it can signify the "Founding Fathers" of the city. Founding City fathers have usually only been men, but it is likely that there have been female city fathers.

In this sense, city fathers are usually the people who founded the city and/or its major institutions.

Fictional city fathers

• One notable example from fiction
  Fiction
  Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
  
   is Jebediah Springfield, from The Simpsons
  The Simpsons
  The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
  
  .

• Another is the Council of Elders from A Series of Unfortunate Events
  A Series of Unfortunate Events
  A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series of children's novels by Lemony Snicket which follows the turbulent lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire after their parents' death in an arsonous house fire...
  
  , by

Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler . Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional...

.

• In Cities in Flight
  Cities in Flight
  Cities in Flight is an omnibus volume of four novels written by James Blish, originally published between 1955 and 1962, which became known over time collectively as the 'Okie' novels. The novels feature entire cities that are able to fly through space using an anti-gravity device, the spindizzy...
  
  , the city fathers are the computers that form part of the government of New York.

Incorrect usage of the term

Among many members of an online community

Online community

An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted...

 who play videogames of The Sims

The Sims

The Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity...

 series incorrectly use the term "town father" to denote a person that impregnates nearly all of the fertile women in the neighborhood and literally fathers the majority of the town's next generation. As interesting and promiscuous as this concept may be, it does not seem to correlate of what the actual term is supposed to refer.

See also

• General-purpose district
• Municipal government
• Council-manager government
  Council-manager government
  The council–manager government form is one of two predominant forms of municipal government in the United States; the other common form of local government is the mayor-council government form, which characteristically occurs in large cities...
  
  
• Mayor
  Mayor
  In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
  
  
• Bundestag
  Bundestag
  The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
  
  
• Parliament
  Parliament
  A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
  
  
• Senate
  Senate
  A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature or parliament. There have been many such bodies in history, since senate means the assembly of the eldest and wiser members of the society and ruling class...
  
  
• House of Representatives
  House of Representatives
  House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national states. In some countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often called a "senate". In other countries, the House of...