1870 Boston mayoral election

December 12, 1870^[1]


Candidate	William Gaston	George O. Carpenter
Party	Democratic	Republican
Popular vote	13,054	4,790
Percentage	70.80%	25.98%

Mayor before election

Nathaniel B. Shurtleff
Democratic

Elected Mayor

William Gaston
Democratic

Federal government

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Ballot measures
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Boston

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Springfield

The Boston mayoral election of 1870 saw the election of Democratic Party nominee William Gaston over Republican Party nominee George O. Carpenter.

Nominees[edit]

At the end of November, William Gaston (the former mayor of Roxbury, Massachusetts and a former Democratic state senator) was nominated by a citizen's committee organized by the city's Democratic Party organization.^[2]^[3] Gaston had, the month prior, unsuccessfully ran for United States Congress as a Democratic nominee in Massachusetts's third congressional district.^[2]^[4]

George O. Carpenter (a Boston alderman) was formally made the Republican nominee at a citizens meeting held at Faneuil Hall on December 7.^[5]^[3]

Ahead of the election, the Boston Evening Transcript and others regarded Gaston to be the front-runner^[4]^[2] Many Republicans organized in citizens committees that instead backed the candidacy of Gaston. Carpenter suffered from a public image that associated him with political corruption during his time as an alderman. Meanwhile, Gaston's past tenure as mayor of Roxbury was well-regarded.^[3]

Results[edit]

1870 Boston mayoral election^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	William Gaston	10,836	57.64
	Republican	George O. Carpenter	7,836	41.68
	Others	Scattering	127	0.68
Turnout			18,799

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b A Catalogue of the City Councils of Boston, 1822-1908, Roxbury, 1846-1867, Charlestown, 1847-1873 and of the Selectmen of Boston, 1634-1822: Also of Various Other Town and Municipal Officers. City of Boston Printing Department. 1909. pp. 54, 259. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Evening Transcript". Boston Evening Transcript. November 30, 1870 – via Newspapers.com.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Boston Municipal Election". New York Herald. December 13, 1870. Retrieved April 29, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ ^a ^b "Boston Correspondence". Hartford Courant. December 10, 1870. Retrieved April 29, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Carpenter Meeting at Faneuil Hall". Boston Daily Evening Transcript. December 8, 1870. Retrieved April 29, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.

Nominees[edit]

Results[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]