Notable people · Justice · Senator · Mayor
Harold Hitz Burton
Born in Massachusetts, Burton was Cleveland mayor (1936-40), U.S. senator (1941-45) and Supreme Court justice (1945-58).
At a glance
- Born
- 1888-06-22
- Died
- 1964-10-28
- Education
- Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, B.A., summa cum laude
- Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, to 1912, LL.B.
- Known as
- Justice, Senator, Mayor
Life story
Harold Burton was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, in 1888. He graduated from Bowdoin College and Harvard Law (1912) and married Selma Smith that year.
He practiced law in Utah and Ohio, served in the Army in World War I, and won a seat in the Ohio House in 1928.
He was Cleveland's law director (1929-32) and then mayor (1935-40), reelected twice. In 1940 Ohio voters sent him to the U.S. Senate.
He was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1945 and unanimously approved in September of that year. He served until 1958 and died in Washington in 1964. A Cleveland bridge was renamed for him.
Timeline
- 1912: Graduates Harvard Law; marries Selma Smith (Cambridge, MA) source
- 1914: Joins Utah Power and Light (Salt Lake City, UT) source
- 1917: Army service in World War I (to 1919) (U.S./Europe) source
- 1928: Elected to Ohio House (Columbus, OH) source
- 1929: Cleveland law director (to 1932) (Cleveland, OH) source
- 1935: Becomes mayor of Cleveland (to 1940) (Cleveland, OH) source
- 1940: Elected U.S. Senator (Ohio) source
- 1945-10-01: Becomes Supreme Court associate justice (Washington, D.C.) source
- 1958-10-13: Leaves Court (Washington, D.C.) source
- 1964-10-28: Dies (Washington, D.C.) source
What Harold is known for
- Mayor of Cleveland 1936-1940
- U.S. Senator 1941-1945
- Associate Justice 1945-1958
Honors and things named for them
- Main Avenue Bridge, Cleveland, renamed in his honor in 1986
Family
- wife: Selma Florence Smith
- half-sister: Virginia Lee Burton (author/illustrator)
Places in Ohio to see
- Highland Park Cemetery (burial) (grave)
Cleveland, Cuyahoga County ZIP 44128 (approximate) · Cleveland · Cuyahoga County
Ohio places
Where Harold Hitz Burton was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.
- Lived: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County ZIP 44106 · Cleveland · Cuyahoga County
- Buried: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County (Highland Park Cemetery) ZIP 44112 · Cleveland · Cuyahoga County
Further reading
Sources
Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.
- Wikipedia: Harold H. Burton dates, Cleveland offices, burial (Wikipedia, opened; pointer-level source)