Robert Clayton Henry (July 16, 1921 - September 8, 1981) was
mayor"Mayor" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government....
of
Springfield, OhioSpringfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek and Beaver Creek, approximately 45 miles west of Columbus and 25 miles northeast of Dayton...
from 1966 to 1968. He was the first African-American mayor of an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
city of any size, though this achievement is frequently overshadowed by fellow
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
mayor
Carl B. StokesCarl Burton Stokes was an American politician of the Democratic party who served as the 51st mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. Elected on November 7, 1967, but took office on Jan 1, 1968, he was tied to be the first African American mayor of a major U.S. city with Mayor Richard G. Hatcher of Gary,...
, who was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1967.
Henry was born in Springfield, a son of Guy Henry and Nellie Reed. He attended
Wittenberg UniversityWittenberg University, located in Springfield, Ohio, United States is a private, four-year liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The college serves 2,100 full-time students , representing 40 states and approximately 36 foreign countries...
in Springfield and the Cleveland College of Mortuary Science in
Cleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border...
for his degree in mortuary studies.
Robert Clayton Henry (July 16, 1921 - September 8, 1981) was
mayor"Mayor" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government....
of
Springfield, OhioSpringfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek and Beaver Creek, approximately 45 miles west of Columbus and 25 miles northeast of Dayton...
from 1966 to 1968. He was the first African-American mayor of an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
city of any size, though this achievement is frequently overshadowed by fellow
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
mayor
Carl B. StokesCarl Burton Stokes was an American politician of the Democratic party who served as the 51st mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. Elected on November 7, 1967, but took office on Jan 1, 1968, he was tied to be the first African American mayor of a major U.S. city with Mayor Richard G. Hatcher of Gary,...
, who was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1967.
Henry was born in Springfield, a son of Guy Henry and Nellie Reed. He attended
Wittenberg UniversityWittenberg University, located in Springfield, Ohio, United States is a private, four-year liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The college serves 2,100 full-time students , representing 40 states and approximately 36 foreign countries...
in Springfield and the Cleveland College of Mortuary Science in
Cleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border...
for his degree in mortuary studies. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from
Central State UniversityCentral State University is a historically black university located in Wilberforce, Ohio. It is Ohio's only public HBCU.-History:In a sense Central State University's history began when Wilberforce University was privately established in Tawawa Springs, Ohio, in 1856.In 1887, the Ohio General...
in 1968.
Henry was elected to Springfield's city commission in 1961, and began his term in January 1962. The commission then appointed him as the city's mayor in 1966, succeeding Maurice K. Baach, the city's first Jewish mayor. In 1968, he refused to run for re-election (his successor, Betty Brunk, was Springfield's first female mayor), but remained on the city commission. After finishing his term as mayor, Henry was selected as a member of a fact-finding commission to
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
by order of then-president, Lyndon Johnson, and later returned in 1970 under Richard M. Nixon to inspect non-military activities. In 1972, he was the Republican Party nominee for the 60th District seat in the
Ohio House of RepresentativesThe Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. ....
, but lost in the general election.
Aside from a political career, Henry was also the owner and operator of the Robert C. Henry Funeral Home, founded in 1951. He also continued to serve as head of charity drives and numerous civic organizations in the Springfield area. He was honored by a parade and banquet in Springfield on Robert C. Henry Day during
Black History MonthBlack History Month is a remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is celebrated annually in the United States and Canada in February and the United Kingdom in the month of October....
. A fountain in downtown Springfield was dedicated to his memory, and a retirement home complex also bears his name.
Henry died in 1981 after a battle with cancer. His remains are interred in Ferncliff Cemetery Mausoleum.
Henry's former son-in-law,
Tim AyersTimothy "Tim" Frederick Ayers served as Mayor and City Commissioner of Springfield, Ohio from 1984-1990. He previously served as the Legislative Message Clerk of the Ohio House of Representatives for the 113th General Assembly and Small Business Manager for the Nashville Chamber of...
, was also a member of Springfield's city commission, and later, mayor. All three of Henry's children currently reside in Springfield, where they continue to operate the funeral home that bears his name. It is one of, if not the only, second-generation African-American owned and operated businesses in Springfield.
External links