Martin Brimmer is elected mayor of Boston.

Brimmer (W) defeats Bradford Sumner by a margin of 5,084 to 2,340. The first non-Yankee mayor in Boston, Brimmer, a German-American merchant, is inaugurated on January 2, 1843. As mayor, Brimmer supports the educational reforms of Horace Mann and involves himself in prison reform, beautification efforts, and providing support to charitable and literary institutions.