Born: January 22, 1815, New YorkDied: October 26,1867, Tampa, Florida
Term: February 10, 1858 - February 12, 1859
Madison Post moved to Tampa in 1849, approximately one year after a hurricane had devastated the area. Post first worked as a hotel manager before purchasing a general store on Lafayette Street, which is now Kennedy Boulevard. Politically active, Madison Post was an early member of the American Party ("Know-Nothings") who strongly supported a pro-slavery, anti-immigration and anti-Catholic platform. In 1854, Post was appointed as Receiver of Public Moneys for Hillsborough County.
Madison Post focused on local politics, and on February 10,1858, he was elected for a one-year term as Mayor of Tampa. Confronted with a nearly empty treasury, Post and the City Council established new ordinances and substantially increased license fees, which helped reestablish Tampa's financial resources. Post had also attempted to make some capital improvements, but his short term of office impeded his plans for Tampa.
In the spring of 1858, volunteer soldiers encamped just outside of Tampa found themselves with much idle time and no pay. These idle hands turned to drinking and misbehavior. Mayor Post, John Henderson, Henry A. Crane, and other prominent citizens organized a vigilante group. Called "regulators," these vigilante groups were determined to rid the area of unwelcome elements in the community.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Post enlisted as a private in the Confederate Infantry, served as a Confederate Deputy Marshall in Florida and as a tax assessor for Florida's Confederate government. Madison Post died in Tampa on October 26, 1867.
Sources for this Biographical Sketch:
Covington, Dr. James W. and Wavering, Debbie Lee, "The Mayors of Tampa: A Brief Administrative History," Tampa, FL: University of Tampa, 1987.
Grismer, Karl H., Tampa: A History of the City and the Tampa Bay Region of Florida, St. Petersburg Printing Company, FL, 1950.
Robinson, Ernest L., History of Hillsborough County, Florida: Narrative and Biographical, The Record Company, St. Augustine, FL, 1928.
Tampa Council Minutes, City of Tampa Archives, Tampa, FL
January 1, 1857 - October 2, 1891 Microfilm Roll # 1