John W. Smith (Detroit mayor)

John W. Smith was born in Detroit on April 12, 1882, the son of John W. and Gertrude Wax Smith.^[1][2] His father died when Smith was five years old, leaving the family poor.^[3] He began working as a newsboy when he was six years old.^[3] He quit school in the fifth grade,^[4] and worked as a pin-setter in a bowling alley and a newsboy, furthering his education on his own at the library.^[1][3] He started boxing at a young age,^[3] then joined the army at the age of fifteen to fight in the Spanish–American War, staying on to fight in the Philippines for some time.^[2]

On his return to Detroit in 1901, Smith attended the University of Detroit for a year, simultaneously becoming a journeyman pipefitter.^[3] He next joined the Detroit Shipbuilding Company as a pipefitter.^[1]

Smith married Marie General;^[5] the couple had two children: Dorothy and John W., Jr.^[3]

Smith became active in Republican politics in 1908,^[3] and in 1911 was appointed Deputy State Labor Commissioner by Governor Chase S. Osborn.^[1] Two years later he became a deputy at the Wayne County Sheriff's Department. He also served as a deputy US Marshall and deputy county clerk.^[2] He was elected to the Michigan State Senate in 1920, and was appointed postmaster of Detroit by Warren G. Harding in 1922.^[1]

In 1924, Smith won election as Detroit mayor after Frank Ellsworth Doremus's resignation,^[1] continuing in the office until 1928.^[6] Smith later served on the Detroit City Council for most of the time from 1932 until his death in 1942.^[7] He served one more time as mayor in 1933, acting to fill out the end of Frank Murphy's term,^[6] after the latter had resigned and his successor, Frank Couzens, also resigned to concentrate on running for election as mayor.^[8] Smith ran for mayor off-and-on, including in 1930 and 1936, and for governor in 1934,^[5] but was not elected.^[9][10]

John W. Smith died on June 17, 1942.^[11]