List of mayors of Kenosha, Wisconsin

This is a list of mayors of Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA. Kenosha was originally incorporated as the village of Southport in 1841, before Wisconsin statehood. In 1850, the village of Southport was replaced by the incorporation of the city of Kenosha. For most of its history, Kenosha utilized a mayor–council government, but experimented with a council–manager government from 1922 to 1958. Kenosha's mayors were initially elected to one-year terms, like most other local officials in early Wisconsin. Today Kenosha mayors are elected to four-year terms.^[1][2]

Kenosha County Courthouse

The first mayor of Kenosha was Michael Frank, a pioneer educator who is considered the father of Wisconsin public schools. The current mayor is David Bogdala, who previously served 16 years on the city council. Kenosha's longest-serving mayor is John Antaramian, from 1992 to 2008, and from 2016 to 2024. The most notable mayors were Joseph V. Quarles, who went on to become a U.S. senator and a U.S. district judge, and Zalmon G. Simmons, who founded the Simmons Company and is the namesake of several Kenosha institutions, such as Simmons Island.

Village presidents (1841–1850)

The Village of Southport was incorporated by an act of the 3rd Wisconsin Territorial Assembly in 1841.^[3]

Milton Frank, 1st Village President of Southport and 1st Mayor of Kenosha.

Order	President	Term start	Term end
1	Michael Frank	1841	1842
2	William Bullen	1842	1843
3	John W. McKoy	1843	1844
4	Sereno Fisk	1844	1846
5	Theodore Newell	1846	1847
6	John W. McKoy	1847	1848
7	Michael Holmes	1848	1849
8	William S. Strong	1849	1850

Mayors (1850–1922)

In 1850, Kenosha was incorporated as a city using the Mayor-Aldermanic system of government with the first officeholders elected in an 1850 general election.^[2]

Charles Sholes, 3rd Mayor of Kenosha.

Asahel Farr, 6th, 10th, 17th, and 21st Mayor of Kenosha.

Milton H. Pettit, 8th, 11th, 13th, and 16th Mayor of Kenosha.

Zalmon G. Simmons, 26th Mayor of Kenosha.

Order	Mayor	Term start	Term end	Notes
1	Michael Frank	1850	1851
2	David C. Gaskill	1851	1852
3	Charles C. Sholes	1852	1856
4	Volney Hughes	1856	1857
5	George Howard Paul	1857	1859
6	Asahel Farr	1859	1860
7	Isaac W. Webster	1860	1861
8	Milton H. Pettit	1861	1862
9	Frederick Robinson	1862	1864
10	Asahel Farr	1864	1865
11	Milton H. Pettit	1865	1866
12	Dennis J. Hynes	1866	1867
13	Milton H. Pettit	1867	1868
14	Isaac W. Webster	1868	1869
15	Frederick Robinson	1869	1870
16	Milton H. Pettit	1870	1871
17	Asahel Farr	1871	1874
18	Isaac W. Webster	1874	1875
19	Otis G. King	1875	1876
20	Joseph V. Quarles	1876	1877
21	Asahel Farr	1877	1879
22	Frederick Robinson	1879	1880
23	A. C. Sinclair	1880	1881
24	Henry Williams	1881	1883
25	O. S. Newell	1883	1884
26	Zalmon G. Simmons	1884	1886
27	Emory L. Grant	1886	1887
28	Fred Stemm	1887	1888
29	Henry Williams	1888	1890
30	John B. Kupfer	1890	1891
31	Ossian Marsh Pettit	1891	1894	Son of former Mayor Milton Pettit
32	William M. Farr	1894	1897
33	Frank C. Culley	1897	1898
34	Ossian Marsh Pettit	1898	1899
35	James Gorman	1899	1902
36	Charles H. Pfennig	1902	1904
37	James Gorman	1904	1908
38	Mathias J. Scholey	1908	1912
39	Daniel O. Head	1912	1914
40	Mathias J. Scholey	1914	1916
41	Charles H. Pfennig	1916	1918
42	John G. Joachim	1918	1922

City managers (1922–1958)

In 1921, Kenosha elected to move to a council-manager style government where the chief executive and administrator was a city manager elected by the city commissioners.^[4]

Order	Manager	Term start	Term end	Notes
1	C. M. Osborne	1922	1928
2	William E. O'Brien	1928	1933
3	Harold C. Laughlin	1933	1941
4	LeRoy Wolfe Sr.	1941	1942
5	James G. Wallace	1942	1946	Resigned[5]
—	Robert V. Baker	1946	1947	Acting[5]
6	Albert E. Axtell	1947	1952
7	Richard H. Custer	1952	1957	Resigned[6]
—	Robert V. Baker (1903–1968)	1957	1958	Acting[7]

Mayors (1958–present)

In 1957, Kenosha elected to return to a Mayor-Aldermanic system of government with officeholders to be elected in April 1958 general elections.^[8]

Order	mage	Mayor	Term start	Term end	Notes
43		Eugene R. Hammond	1958	1966	Resigned[9]
—		Hiene Borden (1913–2006)	January 1967	1967	Interim[10]
44		Wallace E. Burkee (1926–2014)	April 1967	April 1976	Defeated in 1976 primary[11]
45		Paul W. Saftig (1926–2010)	1976	1980
46		John D. Bilotti (1944–)	1980	1987	Resigned to accept appointment to Wisconsin Department of Revenue[12]
—		Eugene J. Dorff (1930–2005)	June 15, 1987	April 19, 1988	Interim[12]
47		Patrick E. Moran (1947–)	April 19, 1988	1992	Resigned 7 weeks prior to end of term to accept position with Merkt Cheese Co.[13]
—		Dennis Wade (1952–2005)	1992	April 15, 1992	Interim[13]
48		John Antaramian (1954–)	1992	2008	Elected in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004. Did not run in 2008.[14][15]
49		Keith Bosman (1944–)	April 15, 2008	April 19, 2016
50		John Antaramian (1954–)	April 19, 2016	April 16, 2024	Longest-serving mayor in city history[15]
51		David Bogdala	April 16, 2024	present	Current mayor

See also

• Kenosha, Wisconsin
• Kenosha County, Wisconsin