The Mayor Number Mix-Up That’s Shaking Up NYC History
So, there’s a really interesting twist unfolding around New York City’s mayoral history, and it’s all coming to light just as Zohran Mamdani is about to be sworn in. The city has been preparing to introduce him as the 111th mayor on January 1st — but according to fresh research, that long-standing number might actually be wrong. And not just slightly wrong… but off by one mayor , stretching all the way back to the 1600s.
This whole revelation comes from historian Paul Hortenstine, who says that after reviewing centuries-old documents, he discovered that Matthias Nicolls — a mayor from the 1670s — actually served two nonconsecutive terms. His second term began in 1674, but it was somehow left out of the official record. Because nonconsecutive terms are counted separately, just like with U.S. presidents, that missing year means every mayor after Nicolls has been misnumbered by one.
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If that’s true, then Mamdani wouldn’t be the 111th mayor at all. He’d technically be number 112 . And former Mayor Eric Adams — who loved to say “I’m 110” — would’ve actually been 111. The mistake seems small, but it carries a domino effect that shifts the entire mayoral lineage.
What’s fascinating is how this mistake went unnoticed for so long. Hortenstine found the clue while researching connections between early New York mayors and slavery. In the archive of Edmund Andros, a British colonial governor, he spotted a reference to Nicolls’ overlooked second term. The discovery was later supported by additional documents at the New York Historical Society, which also contained multiple references to that missing mayoralty year.
And here’s something even more surprising: this isn’t the first time someone has caught the error. Back in 1989, historian Peter R. Christoph wrote about the same miscount, noting that nearly 100 mayors had been given the wrong number. The mistake appears to have originated in an 1841 city manual and was repeated for generations without correction.
Even now, the city’s Green Book — the official guide to municipal records — still doesn’t list Nicolls’ second term. Ken Cobb from the Department of Records acknowledged that nothing in the archives contradicts Hortenstine’s claim, but no formal review is currently underway. As he put it, the department keeps records but doesn’t create them.
With Mamdani preparing to take office and the Adams administration wrapping up, the question becomes: will this correction ever be made? So far, officials seem content to leave the matter to historians and the next administration.
But whether or not the city updates its official count, one thing is clear: a 17th-century oversight has just rewritten New York City’s understanding of its own leadership — and it’s arriving at a moment when the political spotlight is brighter than ever.
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