Description
Contract for the paving of Glenwood Avenue in Buffalo, NY, signed three times by Buffalo Mayor and future President of the United States, Grover Cleveland. Executed September 4th, 1882.
Printed document with original printed wrapper, [22 pages]. Bound at top with staples. Signed by numerous government officials from the City of Buffalo and Erie County, New York. Signed three times by Buffalo Mayor Grover Cleveland, this document was initially signed on July 24th, 1882, after Cleveland returned to Buffalo from the funeral of his mother, Mrs. Ann Cleveland.
Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) spent less than one year as the Mayor of Buffalo, NY, but during his short tenure, he took on public corruption between the political party machines and business interests. He vetoed bills in which contracts were awarded to the highest bidder and forced the Common Council of Buffalo to answer to the public interest. His approach to public corruption quickly gained him notoriety within the New York Democratic Party, earning him the 1882 Democratic nomination for governor. Two years later, he was elected president of the United States, and he went on to serve the only two nonconsecutive terms in presidential history.