Edwin Upton Curtis
| Edwin Upton Curtis | |
|---|---|
 |
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| City clerk of Boston, Massachusetts |
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In office 1889–1890 |
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| Preceded by | Joseph H. O'Neil |
| Succeeded by | J. Mitchell Galvin |
| 34th Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts | |
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In office 1895–1895 |
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| Preceded by | Nathan Matthews, Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Josiah Quincy |
| Police Commissioner of Boston, Massachusetts | |
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In office 1918–1922 |
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| Preceded by | Stephen O'Meara |
| Succeeded by | Herbert A. Wilson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 26, 1861 Roxbury, Massachusetts |
| Died | March 28, 1922 (aged 60) Boston, Massachusetts |
| Political party | Republican |
| Education | Roxbury Latin School |
| Alma mater | Bowdoin College |
| Profession | Attorney |
Edwin Upton Curtis (May 26, 1861 – March 28, 1922) was an American attorney and politician from Massachusetts who served as the 34th Mayor of Boston in 1895. As Boston Police Commissioner from 1918–1922, Curtis' refusal to recognize the union formed by the department's officers provoked the 1919 Boston Police Strike.
Curtis was the son of George and Martha Ann (Upton) Curtis, who were seventh-generation Bostonians.
After attending the grammar and Latin schools in Roxbury, Curtis went to the little Blue Family School for Boys in Farmington, Maine. He graduated from Bowdoin College.
After apprenticing with former Massachusetts governor (and former Boston mayor) William Gaston, Curtis studied law and took the bar. He and a Bowdoin classmate formed the law firm Curtis & Reed. He also became active in politics as a member of the Republican Party.
After serving as Boston city clerk from 1889-1890, Curtis was elected Boston mayor in 1895. In the 1895 election Curtis was defeated for re-election by Josiah Quincy.
After leaving the mayoralty, Curtis was successively Boston's Assistant United States Treasurer and then the Collector of the Port.
In December 1918 Curtis was appointed as the Commissioner of the Boston Police Department by Governor Samuel McCall.
In 1919, in response to rumors that policemen of the Boston Police Department planned to form a union, Curtis issued a statement denying that police officers had any right to form a union, much less one affiliated with a larger organization like the American Federation of Labor (AFL). In August of that year, the AFL issued a charter to the Boston Police Union. Curtis said the union's leaders were insubordinate and planned to relieve them of duty, but said that he would suspend the sentence if the union was dissolved by September 4. Boston mayor Andrew James Peters convinced Curtis to delay his action for a few days, but Curtis ultimately suspended the union leaders on September 8.
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