Robert L. Butler

Who is Robert L. Butler?

Robert L. Butler, is the current Mayor of Marion, Illinois, serving in his 13th term. Butler has been Mayor of Marion since 1963. He is the son of Homer and Eva Butler. His father served six years on the Marion City Council starting in the 1930s. His maternal grandfather J. H. Clarida, served as mayor of the city in the 1920s during the Bloody Williamson era. He won his 13th election for mayor April 5, 2011, with 58 percent of the vote in a three-way race.

Now approaching 50 years in office, Butler is believed to be the longest serving Illinois mayor or village president still active, though he still has a few years to go to surpass the record of his fellow Williamson County Mayor, Frank Caliper of Colp who served 52 years from 1935 to his death in 1987, and Donald Stephens of the tiny Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois who served 51 years from the village's incorporation in 1956 to his death in 2007.