George Montgomery Scott was a U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 politician and entrepreneur, notable for being the first non-Mormon

Mormon

The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

 mayor of Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...

, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

. He was a member of the Liberal Party

Liberal Party (Utah)

The Liberal Party, like the People's Party, flourished in Utah Territory as a local political party in the latter half of the 19th century—before Democrats and Republicans established themselves in Utah in the early 1890s....

 and served as mayor of Salt Lake City from 1890 to 1892.

Scott was not a native of Utah, but was born in Chazy, New York

Chazy, New York

Chazy is a town in northeastern Clinton County, New York, in the United States. The population was 4,284 at the 2010 census. The closest city is Plattsburgh, to the south. Chazy is from Canada. The zip code is 12921 and it is in area code 518.- History:...

 to a merchant

Merchant

A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...

 father. He followed his father's footsteps, and eventually found his way to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 during the gold rush

California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

, opening a hardware store

Hardware store

Hardware stores, sometimes known as DIY stores, sell household hardware including: fasteners, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies, cleaning products, housewares, tools, utensils, paint, and lawn and garden products directly to consumers for...

 in San Francisco. In 1871 he was drawn to Utah for similar reasons, with the opening of mines along the Wasatch Range

Wasatch Range

The Wasatch Range is a mountain range that stretches approximately from the Utah-Idaho border, south through central Utah in the western United States. It is generally considered the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Great Basin region...

. He soon opened George M. Scott Hardware Company in Salt Lake City. The company grew and changed, the most impressive evidence of its prosperity was the Scott Building built in downtown on Main Street in 1888.

In the 1890 election Scott defeated Spencer Clawson

Spencer Clawson

Orson Spencer Clawson generally know simply as Spencer Clawson, was a politician, businessman and inventor in Salt Lake City in the general time frame of 1900....

 to be elected mayor of Salt Lake City.