Irving Freese

Irving C. Freese (February 19, 1903 – September 11, 1964) was the mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut.

Life and family

Freese attended a one-room school in East Brunswick, New Jersey, and was graduated from New Brunswick High School. He first came to Norwalk in 1928, while visiting his brother Arnold. He found work as the assistant credit manager at the Norwalk Tire and Rubber Company, as a Johnson & Johnson salesman, as a cost accountant at the American Hat Company, and at the Standard Safety Razor Corporation as a credit manager. He later started a photography business. In October 1933, he met Elizabeth Hutchinson, the niece of the newly elected mayor of nearby Bridgeport, Jasper McLevy at his victory party. They were married in June 1934. They had a son they named Jasper, after her uncle, in August 1936.^[1]

Political career

Freese was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor in 1939, 1941, 1943 and 1945.^[2] In those unsuccessful elections, he received between 400 and 600 votes apiece. Then he was a candidate for the Connecticut House of Representatives from Norwalk in 1946.

In 1947, the citizens of Norwalk, taking notice of the sound and honest reputation of the socialist McLevy administration in Bridgeport, elected Socialist Freese as mayor with a total of 8,561 votes, the greatest plurality in the city's history. In the landslide, Socialist candidates won almost every other office in the municipal government. Freese was elected again as a Socialist in 1949. In 1951, he broke from the Socialist Party^[3] and defeated Republican candidate Stanley Stroffolino, despite Stroffolino's endorsement by the Republicans, the Democrats and the Socialists with whom Freese had just parted company.^[4] He was elected three times after forming the Independent Party of Norwalk in 1951, 1953 and 1957.^[4][5]

At an annual $2500 salary, he was Norwalk's first full-time mayor. He sold his business to be able to put in a full day's work at City Hall. No aspect of city government was too small to escape his attention. He often exercised his ex officio authority on city boards and commissions, which is granted to the mayor under the city charter, but had rarely been used. He was known to be seen on top of the Department of Public Works snowplows as they cleared the streets after a winter storm.^[6]

Legacy

• Irving Freese Park at 1 Main Street in downtown Norwalk is named for him.
• Troop 19, the oldest Boy Scout Troop in Norwalk was founded on March 3, 1930 by Freese^[7]
• The Irving Freese Apartments, a public housing residence at 57 Ward Street, as well as the Irving Freese Community Room at the same location are named for him.

See also

• List of elected socialist mayors in the United States

References