William L. Lyons was mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

 from 1890 to 1891. He was educated at Highland Military Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....

 and first worked as a clerk for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. In 1881 he became a senior member of his father's investment firm, which eventually became Hilliard Lyons

Hilliard Lyons

J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons, LLC is a full service investment firm, based in Louisville, Kentucky, and founded in 1854. The company started as two separate companies, both located in Louisville. In 1965, the companies merged to create the current company...

. He also worked for some time as a member of the New York Stock Exchange

New York Stock Exchange

The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...

.

He served on Louisville's Common council for years, and served as mayor pro tem of Louisville for four months when the ailing mayor Charles Donald Jacob went overseas for treatment.

He was buried in Cave Hill Cemetery.