Handwritten 17th century documents in New York City\u2019s municipal archives confirm that the official count of mayors is off across centuries.<\/p>\n
The discovery by Department of Records researcher Michael Lorenzini amounts to definitive proof that Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will not be New York City’s 111th mayor, as the city\u2019s records indicate and news outlets routinely report, but the 112th.<\/p>\n
Lorenzini found the records in the \u201cMayor\u2019s Court Minute Book,\u201d which features minutes on court proceedings Mayor Matthias Nicolls presided over in 1674.<\/p>\n
The minutes, Lorenzini said, are proof that Nicolls was both the sixth and eighth mayor of New York City.<\/p>\n
Mayors with nonconsecutive terms are counted twice in the official record, much like U.S. presidents. But Nicolls’ second term is missing from the city’s count, resulting in a misnumbering of all subsequent mayors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe initial question was, should Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani be counted as the 111th or 112th?\u201d Lorenzini wrote in a new post on the Department of Records’ blog<\/a>. \u201cOne thing for certain is he is not Mayor 111.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIt does appear that on January 1, 2026, Mayor Mamdani should be mayor number 112.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani “is not the 111th mayor,” Department of Records manager Michael Lorenzini said, citing the mayoral miscount across centuries.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Kim<\/p>\n Lorenzini began searching the archives after Gothamist<\/a> reported on evidence of the mayoral miscount. After several days, he located the material in the New York County Clerk\u2019s office, which keeps its own trove of historical documents.<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s sort of the mic drop of historical research,\u201d Lorenzini said. \u201cIf you can actually get your hands on the original source materials, you could say, \u2018OK, I’ve traced it back as far as I can go. It’s not hearsay anymore.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Paul Hortenstine, a Washington, D.C. historian who alerted Gothamist to the error, is urging Mamdani to acknowledge the mistake. One place to start is at his inauguration on Jan. 1.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn’t just about what number it is, but it’s also about an opportunity for him and his team to think about what story they want to tell about New York City,\u201d Hortenstine said.<\/p>\n Mayor Bill de Blasio was sworn in as the 109th mayor of New York City in 2010. He was actually the 110th.<\/p>\n Hiroko Masuike\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Hortenstine stumbled across Nicolls\u2019 second term while researching early mayors\u2019 ties to slavery.<\/p>\n Nicolls, whose family owned large parts of Long Island, was a slaveholder.<\/p>\n \u201cIt shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that New York City has been involved with slavery since its founding,\u201d said Robert Snyder, the official Manhattan borough historian and a professor at Rutgers University.<\/p>\n He commended Hortenstine for highlighting new evidence of slavery\u2019s ties to \u201cthe city’s political leadership and merchant class.\u201d<\/p>\n Lists of mayors date back as far as the mid-19th century, when David Thomas Valentine, a clerk who served on the city\u2019s Common Council, created informational pamphlets on government. The first Green Book \u2013 the official government guidebook produced by the city \u2013 that included a list of mayors was published in 1921, according to Lorenzini.<\/p>\n None of the Green Books noted Nicolls\u2019 second term.<\/p>\n There is a precedent for a correction to the official list of mayors. In 1937, Charles Lodwick, who served from 1694-1695, was inserted as the 21st mayor.<\/p>\n Mathias Nicolls’ name is etched in handwritten minutes of the “Mayor\u2019s Court” on court proceedings.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Kim<\/p>\n Mayor Eric Adams, who is known to tell reporters, \u201cI\u2019m 110,\u201d could correct the record before he leaves office. But First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said the current mayor would leave the matter up to the incoming administration.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Mamdani did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Hortestine was not the first person to discover Nicolls had been overlooked in the history books.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s been pointed out, at least going back to 1935, that Nicolls had the second term and somehow nobody really paid attention,\u201d Lorenzini said.<\/p>\n In 1982, Queens College history professor Kenneth Scott<\/a> wrote about discovering Nicolls\u2019 second term in the Minutes of the Mayor\u2019s Court, according to Lorenzini.<\/p>\n