William O. Head was mayor of Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

 from 1909 to 1913.

Biography

He was on July 29, 1859 in Providence, Kentucky

Providence, Kentucky

Providence is a city in Webster County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 3,611 at the 2000 census. The city is named after Providence, Rhode Island....

 to John Wilson Head and Mary A. Headly. His father was a captain

Ranks and insignia of the Confederate States

The Ranks and insignia of the Confederate States were a rank insignia system devised by the forces of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War...

 in the Confederate Army

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 during the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. He was raised on a farm near Providence, Kentucky

Providence, Kentucky

Providence is a city in Webster County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 3,611 at the 2000 census. The city is named after Providence, Rhode Island....

 and came to Louisville age age 21 to take a job in a tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 warehouse. He worked his way up through the tobacco industry for the rest of his professional career.

In 1894 he was elected to the Kentucky General Assembly

Kentucky General Assembly

The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky.The General Assembly meets annually in the state capitol building in Frankfort, Kentucky, convening on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January...

 as a Democrat. With the support of the John Henry Whallen

John Henry Whallen

John Henry Whallen was a Democratic Party political boss in Louisville, Kentucky during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in New Orleans, he moved with his family to Cincinnati, Ohio in his youth. As a boy during the Civil War he served the Confederate Army in Schoolfield's Battery as a...

's Democratic machine

Political machine

A political machine is a political organization in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters and businesses , who receive rewards for their efforts...

, he defeated James F. Grinstead

James F. Grinstead

James Fontleroy Grinstead was mayor of Louisville, Kentucky from 1907 to 1909. He had a common school education in Barren County, Kentucky before moving to Louisville in 1866 at the age of 21 to work in a wholesale grocery...

 to be elected mayor of Louisville in 1909. Local newspapers ran stories intended to scare white voters into voting for Head, exploiting fears of the growing black community in Louisville.

Head oversaw efforts to reform the city's tenement housing, adding code to the city's charter forbidding various unacceptable practices by landlords. The city also began appropriating funding for the University of Louisville

University of Louisville

The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...

 during his administration.

After his term as mayor, he served as a delegate to the Democratic National Committee

Democratic National Committee

The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...

 and as president of the Louisville Water Company

Louisville Water Company

Louisville Water Company is a municipal water company which provides water to the more than 800,000 people in Louisville, Kentucky as well as parts of Oldham and Bullitt counties. Additionally, they provide wholesale water to the outlying counties of Shelby, Spencer, and Nelson counties...

.

He died on April 19, 1931 in Clearwater, Florida

Clearwater, Florida

Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, US, nearly due west of Tampa and northwest of St. Petersburg. In the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and in the east lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 108,787. It is the county seat of...

 and was buried in Cave Hill Cemetery.