Benjamin Seaver is elected mayor of Boston.

Seaver( W), with 3,990 votes, defeats Jerome Van Crowninshield Smith, with 2,736, and Adam Thaxter Jr., with 1,024, and others to be elected to the first of two consecutive terms as mayor. He lives at the Revere House. Inaugurated on January 5, 1852, Seaver had been supported by Marshal Francis Tukey and his officers, but later removes Tukey from office. He successfully presses for construction of a public library.