Hugh O'Bryant
| Hugh O'Bryant | |
|---|---|
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| 1st Mayor of Portland, Oregon | |
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In office April 1851 – April 1852 |
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| Succeeded by | A. C. Bonnell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1813 Georgia, United States |
| Died | 1883 (aged 69–70) Merced County, California |
| Nationality | American |
Hugh Donaldson O'Bryant (1813–1883) was the first mayor of Portland, Oregon, United States, serving from 1851–1852. He later served as the President of the Oregon Territory’ Council chamber of the legislature, and was a member of Washington Territory’s legislature.
Hugh O’Bryant was born in 1813 in Franklin County, Georgia to a missionary father. There he was raised among the Cherokee Indians due to his father’s missionary work. Hugh later moved to Arkansas where in early 1843 he set out for the Oregon Country. He arrived at Oregon City, Oregon, in October 1843 and set up shop as a merchant.
After two years in Oregon City O’Bryant moved across the Willamette River to Portland, Oregon, where he remained until 1852. In 1847, he volunteered to fight in the Cayuse War after the Whitman massacre. During 1848 he served in Second Company of the Oregon Riflemen for the Provisional Government of Oregon as a first lieutenant.
In 1851, he won Portland's first mayoral election by a mere four votes over challenger Joseph Showalter Smith, O'Bryant's one-year reign was known for the failure of Portland's first government to effectively govern the city, leading to a new city charter in 1852.
In O'Bryant's only year as mayor, he missed seven out of thirty-one council meetings. Although the council passed resolutions to build roads, build a jail, and purchase a fire engine, none of these materialized under O'Bryant's leadership. Funds for the fire engine were authorized by citywide vote on May 26, 1851, but it was only a week before his term ended, the following March, that O'Bryant notified the council that the bills authorizing this purchase were sitting on his desk, unsigned. Later he performed justice of the peace duties, and was a gold prospector. However, perhaps his greatest assets in Portland were his carpentry skills, which were in great demand with new immigrants flooding Portland.
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