List of city clerks of Chicago

City Clerk of Chicago
Seal of the City of Chicago
Incumbent Anna M. Valencia since January 25, 2017
Term length	4 years
Salary	$136,393
Website	Office of the City Clerk of Chicago

The City Clerk of Chicago is in charge of record-keeping for Chicago, including for its elections, permits, licenses, and laws. When the Chicago City Council is in session, the City Clerk also serves as council secretary. The clerk is a citywide elected office, and is one of three city-wide elected officials in the City of Chicago, along with the Mayor and the Treasurer.

The current city clerk is Anna Valencia.

One former city clerk is more famous for his non-political activities: The late Baseball Hall of Famer Cap Anson served one term from 1905-1907.

Duties

The City Clerk's office is responsible for maintaining official city government record (such as the Municipal Code of Chicago), distributing approximately 1.3 million vehicle stickers and residential parking permits, and issuing city business licenses.

Significant City Council transparency efforts have included posting nearly 700,000 pages of searchable City Council records to the City Clerk website, ChiCityClerk.com. This includes every ordinance passed since 1981, as well as city budgets and mayoral executive orders going back nearly 30 years. In addition, City Council meetings can be watched live or on demand via a City Council video archive on the City Clerk's website.

List of City Clerks

City Clerks	Term	Notes
Anna Valencia	2017-	Appointed in 2017, and elected in 2019.
Susana Mendoza	2011-2016	Elected in 2011 and 2015. Resigned in 2016 to become the Illinois Comptroller.
Miguel del Valle	2006-2011	Appointed in 2006, and elected in 2007. Resigned in 2011 to run for Mayor of Chicago.
James Laski	1995-2006	Elected in 1995, and re-elected in 1999 and 2003. Resigned in 2006 after his indictment for corruption.[1][2]
Ernest Wish	1993-1995	Appointed in 1993, and did not seek election to a full term.[3]
Walter Kozubowski	1979-1993	Elected in 1979, and re-elected in 1983, 1987, and 1991. Resigned in 1993 after pleading guilty to corruption.[4][5][6]
John C. Marcin	1955-1979	Elected in 1955, and re-elected in 1959, 1963, 1967, 1971, and 1975. In 1979, became alderperson for the 35th Ward.[4][7][8]
Ludwig D. Schreiber	1939-1955	Elected in 1939, and re-elected in 1943, 1947, and 1951.[4][9]
Peter J. Brady	1931-1937	[4]
Patrick S. Smith	1927-1931	[4]
Al F. Gorman	1923-1927	[4]
James T. Igoe	1917-1923	[4]
Joseph Siman	1917	[4]
John Siman	1915-1917	[4]
Francis D. Connery	1909-1915	He was elected in 1909. His term may have ended in 1915.[4][10]
John R. McCabe	1907-1909	[4]
Cap Anson	1905-1907	[4]
Fred C. Bender	1903-1905	[4]
William Loeffler	1897-1903	[4]
Charles A. Gastfield	1893-1895	[4]
James R.B. Van Cleave	1891-1893	[4]
Franz Amberg	1889-1891	[4]
D.W. Nickerson	1887-1889	[4]
C. Herman Plautz	1885-1887	[4]
John G. Neumeister	1883-1885	[4]
Patrick J. Howard	1879-1883	[4]
Caspar Butz	1876-1879	[4]
Joseph K.C. Forrest	1873-1875	[4]
Charles T. Hotchkiss	1869-1873	[4]
Albert H. Bodman	1865-1869	[4]
A.J. Marble	1861-1863	[4]
Abraham Kohn	1860-1861	[4]
H. Kreismann	1857-1860	[4]
Henry W. Zimmerman	1851-1857	[4]
Sidney Aboll	1848-1851	[4]
Henry B. Clarke	1846-1848	[4]
William S. Brown	1845-1846	[4]
Edward Rucker	1844-1845	[4]
James M. Lowe	1843-1844	[4]
James Curtiss	1842-1843	[4]
Thomas Hoyne	1840-1842	[4]
William H. Brackett	1839-1840	[4]
George Davis	1837-1839	[4]
Isaac N. Arnold	1837	Inaugural City Clerk[4][11]

Town Clerks

The position of City Clerk was preceded by the position of Town Clerk, which existed after Chicago had been incorporated as a town and before Chicago was incorporated as a city.

City Clerks	Term	Notes
James Curtiss	1836-1837	Became Clerk in September 1836[12]
Ebenezer Peck	1836	[12]
Charles V. Dyer	1836	Resigned immediately after being elected at the June 6, 1936 town election (held at the Tremont House)[12]
Ebenezer Peck	1835	Coincidingly served as the town's Counsel[12]
Alexander N. Fullerton	1835	Elected in July 1835 town election[12]
Edwards W. Casey	1834-1835	Became Clerk in November 1834. Coincidingly served as Corporation Counsel.[12]
Isaac Harmon	1834	Elected clerk in August 11, 1834 town election. Coincidingly served as Town Collector.[12]
H. J. Hamilton	1833-1834	[12]
E. S. Kimberly	1833	Inaugural Town Clerk[11]

References

1. "City Clerk Laski resigns after indictment". Crain's Chicago Business. 2006-02-06. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
2. "Chicago Democracy Project - Election Results for 1995 General Election, City Clerk - Chicago, IL". chicagodemocracy.org. Archived from the original on 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
3. "Daley Has A Team All His Own - tribunedigital-chicagotribune". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
4. "Centennial List of Mayors, City Clerks, City Attorneys, City Treasurers, and Aldermen, elected by the people of the city of Chicago, from the incorporation of the city on March 4, 1837 to March 4, 1937, arranged in alphabetical order, showing the years during which each official held office". Archived from the original on September 4, 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
5. "Chicago Democracy Project - Election Results for 1979 General Election, City Clerk, Chicago, IL". chicagodemocracy.org. Archived from the original on 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
6. "Photography - Chicago Tribune". Chicago Tribune. 23 August 2023.
7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
8. "Proceedings of the City Council of the City of Chicago". 1955.
9. "Our Campaigns - Candidate - Ludwig D. Schreiber".
10. "Connery Chicago". freepages.rootsweb.com. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
11. Blanchard, Rufus (1881). Discovery and Conquests of the North-west, with the History of Chicago. R. Blanchard & Company. pp. 424–433.
12. Andreas, Alfred Theodore (1884). History of Chicago. Vol. 1. Arno Press. pp. 175–176. ISBN 978-0-405-06845-4.

External links

• Office of the City Clerk