View source for Philip Becker

{{Short description|American politician (1830–1898)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox politician
| name                = Philip Becker
| image               = 1876beckers.jpg
| caption             = Portrait of Philip Becker
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1830|4|25}}
| birth_place         = [[Oberotterbach]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria]]
| residence           = 
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1898|7|4|1830|4|25}}
| death_place         = [[Buffalo, New York]], United States
| order               = 
| office              = 32nd and 40th [[List of mayors of Buffalo, New York|Mayor of Buffalo]]
| term                = 1876–1877, 1886–1889
| predecessor         = [[Lewis P. Dayton]], [[Jonathan Scoville]]
| successor           = [[Solomon Scheu]], [[Charles F. Bishop]]
| party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| religion            = 
| spouse              = {{marriage|Sarah Goetz|1852}}
| children            = no children
| website             = 
| footnotes           = <ref>{{cite book|last=Rizzo|first=Michael|title=Through The Mayors' Eyes|year=2005|publisher=Lulu|isbn=978-1-4116-3757-3|pages=424}}</ref>
}}

'''Philip Becker''' (April 25, 1830 – July 4, 1898) was [[mayor]] of [[Buffalo, New York]], serving 1876–1877 and 1886–1889. He was born in [[Oberotterbach]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria]], on April 25, 1830. He graduated from college in Germany at sixteen years of age. In 1847, Philip and his older brother were provided the means to pay the fare to America and he settled in Buffalo, where his aunt and uncle lived. In 1852, he married Sarah Goetz. He entered the retail and wholesale grocery business. A [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] in politics, his election as mayor on November 2, 1875, was followed quickly by his nomination as a delegate to the [[1876 Republican National Convention]] which successfully nominated [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] for the presidency. It was also during his first term, in March 1876, that the new [[County and City Hall]] was opened.

Becker was defeated by [[Solomon Scheu]] in the election of 1877, but was reelected to a second term in 1885 and to a third in 1887. At the end of his third term, he did not seek re-election. He returned to his business enterprises and retired in 1893. Becker died on July 4, 1898, with an estate valued over $750,000. He was buried in [[Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo, New York)|Forest Lawn Cemetery]]<ref name="bflo"/> under a truncated obelisk of polished black Quincy granite crafted by McDonnell & Sons which, at a weight of 48 tons, was the largest such piece of polished stone ever to have been manufactured at the time.<ref name=BuffaloAH/>

Becker is arguably most historically notable as a pioneer in, and champion of, German culture in Buffalo. Not only was he the first [[German-American]] to be elected as the city's mayor, but he was also instrumental in organizing the Buffalo German Insurance Company in 1867, serving as its president from 1869 until his death,<ref name="bflo">{{cite web|url=http://www.buffalonian.com/history/industry/mayors/Becker.htm|title=Philip Becker|date=2009-05-27|work=Through The Mayor's Eyes, The Only Complete History of the Mayor's of Buffalo, New York|author=Rizzo, Michael|publisher=Peoples History Union|access-date=2009-05-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926225201/http://www.buffalonian.com/history/industry/mayors/Becker.htm|archive-date=2011-09-26|url-status=dead}}</ref> and during the period between his first and second terms championed the construction of the Buffalo Music Hall on Main Street and the selection of Buffalo as the site of the 1883 German ''Sängerfest''.<ref name=BuffaloAH>{{cite web|url=https://www.buffaloah.com/h/beck/index.html|title=Philip Becker|author=LaChiusa, Chuck|work=Buffalo Architecture and History|access-date=2021-10-23}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Buffalo German Insurance Company Building (cropped).jpg|Headquarters of the Buffalo German Insurance Company, co-founded by Becker in 1867
Image:Old County Hall Buffalo NY.jpg|County and City Hall, opened in 1876 during Becker's first term as mayor
Image:Buffalo Sängerhalle, c. early to mid-1880s (from Views of Old-Time Buffalo).jpg|Buffalo Music Hall on Main Street, site of the 1883 German ''Sängerfest''
Image:Philip Becker - Buffalo Evening News 28Dec1885.jpg|Becker depicted in a December 1885 issue of the ''[[Buffalo News|Buffalo Evening News]]''
Image:Philip Becker House, Buffalo, New York - 20191013.jpg|Becker's home on Delaware Avenue, in which he lived from 1886 until his death
Image:Grave of former mayor Philip Becker, Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, New York - 20211004.jpg|Becker's gravesite at Forest Lawn Cemetery
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
* Holli, Melvin G., and Peter D'A. Jones, eds. ''Biographical Dictionary of American Mayors 1820-1980'', (1981) pp.21–22.
{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | title=[[List of mayors of Buffalo, New York|Mayor of Buffalo, New York]] | before=[[Lewis P. Dayton]] | after=[[Solomon Scheu]] | years=1876–1877}}
{{succession box | title=[[List of mayors of Buffalo, New York|Mayor of Buffalo, New York]] | before=[[Jonathan Scoville]] | after=[[Charles F. Bishop]] | years=1886–1889}}
{{end}}

{{Mayors of Buffalo}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Philip}}
[[Category:1830 births]]
[[Category:1898 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Südliche Weinstraße]]
[[Category:New York (state) Republicans]]
[[Category:Mayors of Buffalo, New York]]
[[Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo)]]
[[Category:Emigrants from Bavaria to the United States]]
[[Category:People from the Palatinate (region)]]
[[Category:19th-century mayors of places in New York (state)]]


{{NewYork-mayor-stub}}
{{BuffaloNY-stub}}