Robert Linn
Encyclopedia
Robert P. Linn was the second longest serving mayor in the United States
. Linn, a Republican, served 58 years as the mayor of Beaver
, Pennsylvania
, a borough
around 25 miles (40.2 km) northwest of Pittsburgh
.
and grew up in Beaver. He worked for the Duquesne Light Company, and in 1945 was approached by a group of Republicans who wanted to defeat the incumbent mayor, a position then known as burgess. Initially, he did not want the job, but later gave in. Afterward he changed his mind, taking out a newspaper advertisement telling people to vote for his opponent. He won the election anyway, and took office on January 2, 1946. Linn continued to serve as mayor of the next five decades. The position's original salary was $2,500 per year.
In 1995, he was officially listed in Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-serving mayor in the United States; in a 2002 interview, he said his major accomplishments in office was starting Streetscape, a town beautification project that replaced concrete sidewalks with red bricks and removed power line
s from the main street
.
Linn died in his sleep at his home in 2004 at the age of 95 and in the middle of his fifteenth term. The town council appointed councilman Thomas Hamilton to replace him.
He resided in a yellow apartment on Wilson Ave.
Longest serving mayor in the United States
Longest serving mayors in the United States*Joseph P. Riley, Jr., is the Mayor of Charleston, South Carolina since December 1975. He is the longest serving mayor still in office....
. Linn, a Republican, served 58 years as the mayor of Beaver
Beaver, Pennsylvania
Beaver is a borough in and the county seat of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States, at the confluence of the Beaver and Ohio Rivers. As of the 2000 census, the borough population was 4,775, having dropped from 5,641 in 1940....
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, a borough
Borough (Pennsylvania)
In the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a borough is a self-governing municipal entity that is usually smaller than a city. There are 958 boroughs in Pennsylvania. All municipalities in Pennsylvania are classified as either cities, boroughs, or townships...
around 25 miles (40.2 km) northwest of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
.
Biography
Linn was born in BurgettstownBurgettstown, Pennsylvania
Burgettstown is a borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The population was 1,576 according to the 2000 census.-History:...
and grew up in Beaver. He worked for the Duquesne Light Company, and in 1945 was approached by a group of Republicans who wanted to defeat the incumbent mayor, a position then known as burgess. Initially, he did not want the job, but later gave in. Afterward he changed his mind, taking out a newspaper advertisement telling people to vote for his opponent. He won the election anyway, and took office on January 2, 1946. Linn continued to serve as mayor of the next five decades. The position's original salary was $2,500 per year.
In 1995, he was officially listed in Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-serving mayor in the United States; in a 2002 interview, he said his major accomplishments in office was starting Streetscape, a town beautification project that replaced concrete sidewalks with red bricks and removed power line
Electric power transmission
Electric-power transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating power plants to Electrical substations located near demand centers...
s from the main street
Main Street
Main Street is the metonym for a generic street name of the primary retail street of a village, town, or small city in many parts of the world...
.
Linn died in his sleep at his home in 2004 at the age of 95 and in the middle of his fifteenth term. The town council appointed councilman Thomas Hamilton to replace him.
He resided in a yellow apartment on Wilson Ave.