Frank K. Mott
American mayor (1866-1958)
Frank Kanning Mott (January 21, 1866 – 1958) was the 35th mayor of Oakland, California.
Mott was born in San Francisco on January 21, 1866, but his family moved to nearby Oakland when he was two years old. His father, who worked for the Central Pacific Railroad (later Southern Pacific Railroad), died when he was 11. To support the family, Mott quit school and worked as a messenger boy for Western Union and then as a telephone operator, the first ever in Oakland, according to his obituary in the Tribune. He entered the hardware business as a clerk at the age of 16, eventually becoming the sole proprietor of Frank K. Mott Co. He entered politics in 1894 when then-Mayor George Pardee appointed him to the city council to fill H.P. Dalton's vacant seat. He went on to serve two more terms before being elected mayor in 1905.
Mott, known as "The Mayor Who Built Oakland", presided over the greatest disaster relief operation in Oakland when an estimated 150,000 people sought refuge in the city after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. He was re-elected in 1907 by a six-to-one margin, defeating Socialist O.H. Phillbrick, 7,317 to 1,226, and re-elected to the third term in 1909, defeating Citizens' Party candidate F.F. Jackson 8,352 to 6,045. Following the adoption of a new city charter establishing a city commission government in 1910, Mott won the 1911 election by defeating Socialist opponent Thomas Booth, 11,722 to 9,837.
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