Michael Joseph "Joe" Conroy (September 20, 1874September 5, 1946) was the second Mayor of Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...

, serving from 1923 to 1924.

Biography

Michael Joseph Conroy was born in the village of Ballyconneely

Ballyconneely

Ballyconneely is a small ribbon development in west Connemara, County Galway, Ireland.Settlements are spread out north on the road to Clifden and south on the road to Roundstone...

, County Galway

County Galway

County Galway is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the city of Galway. Galway County Council is the local authority for the county. There are several strongly Irish-speaking areas in the west of the county...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, on September 20, 1874. His family emigrated to the United States in 1880, settling in Manchester, New Hampshire

Manchester, New Hampshire

Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...

. He worked for the Boston and Maine Railroad

Boston and Maine Railroad

The Boston and Maine Corporation , known as the Boston and Maine Railroad until 1964, was the dominant railroad of the northern New England region of the United States for a century...

 until 1904. In 1905, he moved to Seward, Alaska

Seward, Alaska

Seward is a city in Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 3,016....

 to work on the Alaska Central Railroad. He lived for a time in Cordova

Cordova, Alaska

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,454 people, 958 households, and 597 families residing in the city. The population density was 40.0 per square mile . There are 1,099 housing units at an average density of 17.9 per square mile...

, Knik

Knik, Alaska

-Alaska:* Knik, Alaska, a ghost town located southwest of Wasilla. The townsite, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, lies within the Knik-Fairview census-designated place boundaries .-Census-designated places:* Knik-Fairview, Alaska...

 and Valdez

Valdez, Alaska

Valdez is a city in Valdez-Cordova Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 4,020. The city is one of the most important ports in Alaska. The port of Valdez was named in 1790 after the Spanish naval officer Antonio Valdés y...

, where in 1913 he was admitted to the Alaska Bar Association. He served as United States Commissioner in the Seward-Kenai

Kenai, Alaska

Kenai is a city in Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 7,464...

 precinct until 1916. During this time he met and married Nellie Rushton Muscott, a nurse from Simpson, Kansas

Simpson, Kansas

Simpson is a city in Cloud and Mitchell counties in Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 86.-Geography:Simpson is located at...

 who was working in Seward for Dr. Joseph H. Romig

Joseph H. Romig

Joseph Herman Romig was a frontier physician and Moravian Church missionary, who served as Mayor of Anchorage, Alaska from 1937–1938.- Family and missionary work :...

. In June 1916, the couple moved to Anchorage where Joe found work as a tax assessor for the not-yet incorporated city.

Conroy was elected mayor in 1923, and reelected in 1924. During Conroy's first term in office, President Warren Harding visited Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, becoming the first U.S. President to visit the territory. Harding, along with Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...

 and others, arrived in Anchorage on the train from Seward on July 13, 1923 at 9:30 in the evening. Conroy welcomed them in a ceremony on Fourth Avenue, presenting Harding with a Sydney Laurence

Sydney Laurence

Sydney Mortimer Laurence was an American Romantic landscape painter and is widely considered one of Alaska's most important historical artists.-Early life:...

 oil painting of Mount McKinley

Mount McKinley

Mount McKinley or Denali in Alaska, United States is the highest mountain peak in North America and the United States, with a summit elevation of above sea level. It is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.- Geology and features :Mount McKinley is a granitic pluton...

.

Conroy resigned on October 2, 1924, with City Council member Charles Bush appointed to complete the rest of his term.

Conroy died on September 5, 1946. He is buried in Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery.