Robert W. Lyon served as Mayor of Pittsburgh from 1881 to 1884.

Early life

Mayor Lyon was born in Butler County, Pennsylvania

Butler County, Pennsylvania

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 174,083 people, 65,862 households, and 46,827 families residing in the county. The population density was 221 people per square mile . There were 69,868 housing units at an average density of 89 per square mile...

 north of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

 in 1842. He joined the 102nd Pennsylvania Volunteers during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. He earned purple hearts at the Battle of Fair Oaks and again at the Battle of Cold Harbor

Battle of Cold Harbor

The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought from May 31 to June 12, 1864 . It was one of the final battles of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign during the American Civil War, and is remembered as one of American history's bloodiest, most lopsided battles...

. When he came home from war Lyon made a small fortune in the petroleum industry

Petroleum industry

The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting , and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline...

.

Pittsburgh politics

Mayor Lyon won election in 1881 and was best known as "the working man's mayor." He guided city hall into the completion of the Smithfield Street Bridge

Smithfield Street Bridge

The Smithfield Street Bridge is a lenticular truss bridge crossing the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.The bridge was designed by Gustav Lindenthal, the engineer who later designed the Hell Gate Bridge. The bridge was built between 1881–83, opening for traffic on March 19, 1883....

 and the successful annexation of the Garfield

Garfield (Pittsburgh)

Garfield is a neighborhood in the east end of the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Garfield lies about three miles as the crow flies from the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers at the City's heart. It sits on a bluff above the Allegheny River...

 neighborhood. The AFL, forerunner to the AFL-CIO

AFL-CIO

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...

, was founded in Pittsburgh under his administration.

Later life

On stepping down from the mayor's office in 1884, Mayor Lyon — "the working man's mayor" — went to work in a steel mill and worked in county government until his death in 1904. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in the west suburb of McKees Rocks.