{{Short description|2nd Territorial Governor of New Mexico and Former Mayor of St. Louis}} {{About|the politician|the labour organizer|William Lane}} {{More footnotes needed|date=February 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = William Carr Lane | image = William Carr Lane (St. Louis Mayor, New Mexico Territory Governor).jpg | caption = Carr as depicted in Volume 1 of 1909's ''St. Louis, the Fourth City, 1764-1909''. | order = 2nd [[List of governors of New Mexico#Governors of the Territory of New Mexico|Governor of New Mexico Territory]] | term_start = July 15, 1852 | term_end = May 6, 1853 | appointer = [[Millard Fillmore]] | predecessor = [[James S. Calhoun]] | successor = [[David Meriwether (Kentucky politician)|David Meriwether]] | order2 = 1st [[Mayor of St. Louis|Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri]] | term_start2 = April 14, 1823 | term_end2 = 1829 | predecessor2 = Office Established | successor2 = [[Daniel Page]] | term_start3 = November 15, 1837 | term_end3 = 1840 | predecessor3 = [[John Fletcher Darby]] | successor3 = [[John Fletcher Darby]] | birth_date = {{birth date|1789|12|01|mf=y}} | birth_place = [[Fayette County, Pennsylvania]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1863|01|06|1789|12|01}} | death_place = [[St. Louis, Missouri]], U.S. | party = [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archives.dickinson.edu/people/william-carr-lane-1789-1863 |title=William Carr Lane (1789-1863) |website=[[Dickinson College]] |access-date=April 21, 2021}}</ref> | spouse = Mary Ewing | children = | profession = Medical doctor | signature = Signature of William Carr Lane (1789–1863).png | footnotes = }}

'''William Carr Lane''' (December 1, 1789{{spaced ndash}}January 6, 1863) was an American politician and medical doctor who was the first [[mayor of St. Louis]], Missouri, from 1823 to 1829 and 1837 to 1840. He later served as the [[governor of New Mexico Territory]] from 1852 to 1853.

==Biography==

Born in [[Fayette County, Pennsylvania]], to Presley Carr Lane and Sarah Stephenson, Lane attended college in [[Pennsylvania]] and studied [[medicine]] in [[Louisville, Kentucky]]. He entered the [[U.S. Army]], and was appointed [[surgeon|post surgeon]] at [[Fort Harrison]] on the [[Wabash River]] north of [[Terre Haute, Indiana]], in 1816. He resigned from the army in 1819 to enter private practice. He married on February 26, 1818, in [[Vincennes, Indiana]], to Miss Mary Ewing, daughter of Nathaniel Ewing and Ann Breading. Their children were Anne Ewing Lane (1819–1904), Sarah L. Lane (1821–1887), and Victor Carr Lane (1831–1848).

Lane served as St. Louis's first mayor from 1823 to 1829, when the city's population was around 4,000. He oversaw the first public health system in the city, free public schools, and street improvements, including the paving of Main Street. Lane helped erect the city's first [[town hall]]. He was also instrumental in beautifying the city with fountains and greenery. The City Seal was adopted, and election procedures were written. Perhaps the most memorable event of his service was an 1825 visit by [[Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette|Lafayette]]. Lane served again as mayor from 1837 to 1840.

In 1852, President [[Millard Fillmore]] appointed him governor of the [[New Mexico Territory]]. During his tenure, Lane seized disputed land in the [[Mesilla Valley]] that he had no authority over. He sought to use the land as a route for the transcontinental railroad, but President [[Franklin Pierce]] did not approve of the seizure. Further tensions over the disputed land were eased when [[James Gadsden]] purchased it.<ref name="NMHistory">{{cite web |url=https://newmexicohistory.org/2012/06/26/william-carr-lane/ |title=William Carr Lane |website=New Mexico History |access-date=7 September 2021}}</ref> After this service, Lane returned to St. Louis and practiced medicine until his death in 1863. He was buried at [[Bellefontaine Cemetery]].<ref name="stlouisgov">{{cite web |url=https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/news-media/newsgram/mayoral-spotlight-william-carr-lane.cfm |title=Mayoral Spotlight: William Carr Lane |date=1 October 2015 |website=StLouis-MO.gov |access-date=8 September 2021}}</ref> A street in St. Louis is named in his honor.

==References== {{reflist}} {{refbegin}} {{refend}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Conard |first=Howard Louis |title=Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri |publisher=The Southern History Company |location=New York; Louisville; St. Louis |year=1901 |volume=1 |pages=569–572 |oclc=32872107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VGsUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA569}} * {{cite news |title=Proceedings of the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis |date=November 14, 1837 |publisher=Daily Commercial Bulletin & Missouri Literary Register}} * {{cite news |title=Proceedings of the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis |date=December 2, 1837 |newspaper=Daily Commercial Bulletin and Missouri Literary Register}} * {{cite book |title=Historical Sketch of Governor William Carr Lane |year=1917 |publisher=Historical Society of New Mexico |last1=Twitchell |first1=Ralph Emerson |last2=Carr Lane |first2=William |location=Santa Fe |oclc=2629819}} * {{cite book |last=Darby |first=John Fletcher |title=Personal Recollections |publisher=G. I. Jones and Company |location=St. Louis |year=1880 |oclc=497877 |url=https://archive.org/details/personalrecolle00darbgoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/personalrecolle00darbgoog/page/n347 335] |access-date=May 20, 2010}}

==External links== * Richard Edwards & Merna Hopewell, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_85aHYrHi60C Edwards's Great West and Her Commercial Metropolis]'' (1860) p.&nbsp;571 "William Carr Lane, First Mayor of St. Louis" *[http://exhibits.slpl.lib.mo.us/mayors/data/dt52748968.asp William Carr Lane] at the St. Louis Public Library Mayors Exhibit website. *{{Find a Grave|20574}}

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-new |Office created}} {{s-ttl |title=[[List of Mayors of St. Louis|Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri]] |years=1823–1829}} {{s-aft |after=[[Daniel Page]]}} {{s-bef |before=[[John Fletcher Darby]]}} {{s-ttl |title=[[List of Mayors of St. Louis|Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri]] |years=1837–1840}} {{s-aft |after=[[John Fletcher Darby]]}} {{s-bef |before=[[James S. Calhoun]]}} {{s-ttl |title=[[List of governors of New Mexico#Governors of the Territory of New Mexico|Governor of New Mexico Territory]] |years=1852–1853}} {{s-aft |after=[[David Meriwether (Kentucky politician)|David Meriwether]]}} {{end}}

{{Mayors of St. Louis}} {{Governors of New Mexico}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, William Carr}} [[Category:1789 births]] [[Category:1863 deaths]] [[Category:Medical doctors from Missouri]] [[Category:Mayors of St. Louis]] [[Category:Governors of New Mexico Territory]] [[Category:People from Fayette County, Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Missouri Whigs]] [[Category:19th-century mayors of places in Missouri]] [[Category:New Mexico Whigs]] [[Category:Medical doctors from Indiana]]