Benjamin G. Orr

Benjamin Grayson Orr (1762–1822) was the fourth mayor of Washington, D.C., elected by the council of aldermen in 1817 and serving for two years.

Benjamin G. Orr
Mayor of Washington, D.C.
In office
1817–1819
Preceded byJames H. Blake
Succeeded bySamuel Nicholas Smallwood
Personal details
Born
Benjamin Grayson Orr

1762
Virginia
Died1822

Orr, probably born in Virginia, was a grocer in Georgetown – which in the early 19th century was a separate town from Washington. He moved into the city in 1812 and was elected an Alderman, but resigned one year later and became a supplier to U.S. Army brigades in Ohio and Michigan.[1]

As mayor, Orr procured public improvements such as grading of the streets and established Washington's first volunteer fire companies, appropriating $1,000 for the purchase of four fire bells and procured apparatus for the companies. He also authorized a lottery to raise funds to build a penitentiary and city hall.[2]

He died in 1822 and was buried in Congressional Cemetery.

Benjamin Orr Elementary School in Southeast Washington, D.C., which opened as an all-white school but in the 2016–17 school year was "97 percent black, 2 percent Hispanic and zero percent white," was named for him until 2018 when the predominantly black student body at Orr Elementary discovered the school was named for a slave owner and decided to rename the school for Lawrence E. Boone, the school's African-American principal from 1973 to 1996. The vote of the D.C. Council to change the name was unanimous.[3]

Orr leased a slave for $250 to James Madison, Secretary of State of the United States at the time, according to the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.[4]

References
  1. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-01-31.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Belva Lockwood And The 'Way Of The World' Archived 2007-07-04 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Stein, Perry (May 4, 2018). "This D.C. school was named for a mayor and slave owner. Not anymore". The Washington Post.
  4. Stein, Perry (4 May 2018). "This D.C. school was named for a mayor and slave owner. Not anymore" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
Political offices
Preceded by
James H. Blake		 Mayor of Washington, D.C.
1817–1819		 Succeeded by
Samuel N. Smallwood

[1]


  1. Stein, Perry (4 May 2018). "This D.C. school was named for a mayor and slave owner. Not anymore" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.