Mayor William J. Gaynor

William Jay Gaynor was born in Oneida, New York in 1851 (one source says 1849). He served as mayor of New York City from 1909 to 1913, and was noted for his impartiality, reforms, and stating of his personal convictions. He made national news headlines when, during a visit to Hoboken, New Jersey on August 8, 1910, he was shot by an unemployed former public worker.

As mayor William Gaynor appeared on a reviewing stand at the October 1911 Columbus Day parade. The parade was subsequently used as a background for the January 5, 1912 Thanhouser release of A Columbus Day Conspiracy. He was also shown presenting a medal to a policeman in Thanhouser’s One of the Honor Squad, released in August of the same year. Gaynor was a staunch advocate of motion pictures in an era when many do-gooders condemned them as being immoral and a threat to the welfare of the public. The New York Dramatic Mirror printed many favorable editorial comments concerning Gaynor’s outlook (issues of May 11 and 18, 1912, and others). He became a hero to the film industry. William J. Gaynor died of a heart attack aboard the steamship Baltic, 400 miles off the coast of Ireland, on September 10, 1913.