Alexander Brush

Who was Alexander Brush?

Alexander Brush was Mayor of the City of Buffalo, New York, serving 1870–1873 and 1880–1881. He was born on February 8, 1824 at Brushland, New York. In 1848, he moved to Buffalo and opened a brick making business. In April 1863, he married Lucinda Bucklin of Titusville, Pennsylvania; she died within the year and he remarried in 1866 to Mrs. Sarah A. Leonard, of South Wales, New York.

Brush first served as Alderman for the third Ward in 1861 and reelected to that position until becoming street commissioner. He was elected mayor November 2, 1869, as the Republican candidate. He was re-elected in a special election held in February 1872 During his term the cornerstone was laid for the County and City Hall, which was not completed until early in 1876. At the end of his second term, he declined to be a candidate for re-election. In 1879, six years after retiring from public office, on November 4, 1879, he was once again elected mayor and served until 1881.

He died while traveling across the ocean to Europe on June 1, 1892. His body was laid to rest in Forest Lawn Cemetery.