Adam Mercer Brown Collection, c. 1890-1901

Adam Mercer Brown (1826-1910) holds the distinction of being Pittsburgh’s first Recorder, though his term was short-lived. Born in Mercer County in 1826, Brown studied medicine in his youth but headed west in 1848 in search of gold. Upon returning to Pittsburgh, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1853. The following year he married Lucetta Turney (1827-1892), whose grandfather founded the German Reformed Evangelical Church on Smithfield Street. In the 1860s, Brown served as a Pittsburgh City Council member and helped to author legislation that would consolidate much of the City’s East End territory, including what would become the neighborhood of Bloomfield, where he and Lucetta would raise their family in a stately home on the corner of Liberty and South Pacific.

In 1901, a reform bill in the state legislature replaced the position of mayor in second class cities, which then included Scranton, Allegheny City, and Pittsburgh, with the position of “recorder.” The bill attempted to restore balance between the executive and legislative branches of government after an 1887 act reduced the mayor’s executive responsibilities, which allowed the influence of political cliques to go largely unchecked. Opponents called the act a “ripper bill” because it enabled the Governor to remove the existing mayor (W. Diehl) and appoint a recorder to hold office until the following election. Accordingly, Governor Stone appointed Adam Brown, known about town as a prominent lawyer, bank executive, and former Councilman, to the position on April 6, 1901, bringing Mayor Diehl’s term to a close.

Before the year’s end, however, Governor Stone would repent his decision to sign the bill, due largely to the appeals of political rivals who feared that their government positions were in jeopardy (indeed, Brown replaced several department directors by the end of August). The political pressure would at last overwhelm the Governor, who dismissed Adam Brown on November 21, 1901.

Upon his dismissal, Brown returned to his law practice and spent many of his leisure hours cultivating flowers in his greenhouse. He died at his home in Bloomfield in 1910, having lived a long and productive life of civic engagement.