James N. Adam

Who was James N. Adam?

James Noble Adam was Mayor of the City of Buffalo, New York, serving 1906–1909. He was born in Peebles, Scotland on March 1, 1842, a son of Reverend Thomas Adam. He married Margaret Linton Paterson of Edinburgh, on January 9, 1872; she died in 1894. Also in 1872, upon the advice of his brother, Robert B. Adam, co-founder of Adam, Meldrum & Anderson, he came to America. He initially settled at New Haven, Connecticut, where he began a successful retail operation. In 1881, he moved back to Buffalo and started a full-scale department store at Main and Washington Streets, the J. N. Adam & Co. In 1905, he retired from the company.

In 1901, he was elected alderman of the 24th ward. He was elected mayor on November 7, 1905, as the Democratic candidate. He did not run for another term.

Some time between 1910 and 1915, he purchased almost 300 acres of land adjacent to the village of Perrysburg, New York using proceeds from his own personal fortune to establish a tuberculosis asylum. A hospital was opened known as the J. N. Adam Memorial Hospital for Tuberculosis; it later became the J. N. Adam State School for Severely Mentally Retarded.