Matthew B. Lowrie

Matthew B. Lowrie
Portrait of Matthew B. Lowrie, c. 1830–1831
5th Mayor of Pittsburgh
In office 1830–1831
Preceded by	Magnus Miller Murray
Succeeded by	Magnus Miller Murray
Personal details
Born	May 12, 1773[1] Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	July 28, 1850 (aged 76/77)
Political party	Anti-Masonic
Relations	Walter Lowrie (brother)
Children	Walter H. Lowrie
Religion	Presbyterianism

Mathew B. Lowrie (1773 – July 28, 1850), served as the Mayor of Pittsburgh from 1830 to 1831.

Early life

Lowrie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, from where he emigrated with his parents the U.S. state of to Pennsylvania. As a young man he came to Pittsburgh and started a thriving grocery business. Lowrie was also active in religion, serving many years as a Sunday school teacher at the First Presbyterian Church. His brother, Walter Lowrie, served in the United States Senate, and his son, Walter H. Lowrie, went on to become Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Pittsburgh politics

Mathew Lowrie was elected mayor in 1830 and is credited with "modernizing" the fire department.

The city bought its very first steam powered fire engine and named it the "citizen". Lowrie was also instrumental in managing the city's rapid growth by adopting the "ward" system of governance for the first time in western Pennsylvania.

Later life

Lowrie died in 1850 after a bout with cholera, he is buried in Allegheny Cemetery and the site is marked by an obelisk.

Mayors of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania since the 1816 City Charter
Denny Darragh Snowden Murray M. Lowrie Murray Pettigrew McClintock Little Irwin Thomson Hay Howard Kerr Adams J. Herron Barker J. Guthrie Riddle Volz Bingham Weaver Wilson Sawyer J. Lowry McCarthy Blackmore Brush Blackmore McCarthy Liddell Lyon Fulton McCallin Gourley McKenna Ford Diehl A. Brown J. Brown Hays G. Guthrie Magee Armstrong Babcock Magee Kline J. S. Herron McNair Scully Lawrence Gallagher Barr Flaherty Caliguiri Masloff Murphy O'Connor Ravenstahl Peduto

References