Otis Norcross

Otis Norcross

Otis C. Norcross (November 2, 1811 – September 5, 1882) served as the nineteenth Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, from January 7, 1867 to January 6, 1868 during the Reconstruction era of the United States. Norcross was a candidate (1861) for the Massachusetts State House of Representatives; served as a member of Boston's Board of Aldermen from January 6, 1862 to January 2, 1865; Chairmen of the Board of Aldermen from January 4, 1864 to January 2, 1865; and served as a Trustee of the City Hospital, 1865 & 1866; and a member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council, under Gov. William Claflin (1869).

As a politician, he was "very pronounced" in his views; a Whig Party member, with a "most consistent temperance." At the onset of the American Civil War his political views were aligned with the Republican Party.

The sentiment of Norcross' spirit was reflectively shared upon his death:

"He brought to our service the sterling qualities which marked his whole character and career. He was a man of great intelligence, of remarkable firmness, and of the highest integrity, never weary in well-doing, and one whose counsel and co-operative, in all the concerns of this Association and of the community in which he lived, were as highly valued as they were cheerfully and generously afforded." Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, President, Annual Address, 18 June 1883, Annual Meeting Bunker Hill Monument Association

It is with this in mind, that "is failure to receive the customary re-election for a second-term was due, perhaps, to a certain stiffness of virtue, which in political life at least, seldom receives the reward it merits." During his tenure as Mayor, he had the great distinction of welcoming as guests to the City, both 17th U. S. [President Andrew Johnson and General Philip Sheridan.

His distant fourth cousin Jonathan Norcross served as fourth ante-bellum Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, as candidate of the Moral Party.

In his civic life, Otis Norcross was one of the Boston Committee (1871) to relieve sufferers of the Great Chicago Fire. In 1872, while the Boston Fire was raging, he was made treasurer of the Relief Committee. His legacy includes serving as a member of the Water Board (1865) that helped to promote the construction of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, and the Bunker Hill Monument Assoc.