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Carl Harstrom
American educator and mayor From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Carl Axel Harstrom (December 20, 1863 – January 24, 1926) was an American educator, and one-term Republican mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut, from 1915 to 1917.
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Early life and family
Harstrom was born in Västerås, Sweden.[2] He was the son of Carl Gustaf and Amelia Adolphina Fosberg Harstrom.[2][5] His father was a manufacturer in Sweden who brought his family to America in 1872, when Carl Axel was nine years of age.[2] He attended the Peekskill Military Academy, and graduated in 1880.[2] He taught school for two years before entering Hobart College.[2] He graduated as valedictory orator[4] and with magna cum laude honors.[2] He earned an A.B in 1886, and an M.A. in 1889.[2][5] He served as headmaster at the Peekskill Academy for three years, and principle of Vienland Preparatory School for four years.[2] On June 20, 1888, Professor Harstrom married Lee Selden Partridge of Phelps, New York.[2][5]
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Life in Norwalk
He moved to Norwalk in 1891 to take a position as headmaster of the Norwalk Military Academy.[2] He started his own private preparatory school for boys in Norwalk in 1893.[2]
While teaching and serving as headmaster, he also pursued his own education at Yale University in classical Philology from 1896 to 1899. He earned his PhD in 1899.[2][5] He was a member of Theta Delta Chi, and served as its national president for five consecutive terms.[2]
Political career
In Norwalk, he served as a member of the Board of Estimate.[5] In 1915, Harstrom was elected mayor of Norwalk and served a two-year term. During his term of office he reconstructed the financial system, with the result of making it more transparent to the public.[5] He is credited with introducing voting machines to Norwalk.[5] He is also credited for the many miles of hard pavement laid during his term.[5]
During the World War he was chairman of the local draft board.[5] He was a founding board member of the Norwalk Savings Bank and of the Fairfield County Savings Bank.[5]
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Associations
- Member, American Philological Association[2][5]
- Member, Phi Beta Kappa Society[2][4]
- Member, Yale Club of New York City[2][5]
- Member, Norwalk Club[2][5]
- Member, Knob Outing Club of Norwalk[2]
- Vestryman, Grace Episcopal Church[2][5]
- President of the Grand Lodge, Theta Delta Chi[4]
- Member, Senior Warden, Master Mason (1917), Worshipful Master (1922), St. John's Lodge No. 6, Free and Accepted Masons[6]
Awards
References
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