Thomas Dyer
18th Mayor of Chicago
In office March 11, 1856[1] – March 10, 1857[2]
Preceded by	Levi Boone
Succeeded by	John Wentworth
Personal details
Born	(1805-01-13)January 13, 1805 Canton, Connecticut
Died	June 6, 1862(1862-06-06) (aged 57) Middletown, Connecticut
Resting place	Graceland Cemetery
Political party	Democratic
Residence(s)	Chicago, Illinois
Signature

Thomas Dyer (January 13, 1805 – June 6, 1862) served as mayor of Chicago, Illinois (1856–1857) for the Democratic Party. He also served as the founding president of the Chicago Board of Trade.

Biography

Thomas Dyer was born in Canton, Connecticut on January 13, 1805.^[3]

He was a meat-packing partner of former mayor John Putnam Chapin, who was one of Chicago's first meat packers. Chapin built a slaughterhouse on the South Branch of the Chicago River in 1844.^[4]

Running as a "pro-Nebraska" Democrat (aligned with Stephen A. Douglas, who publicly backed his candidacy), Dyer won the contentious 1856 Chicago mayoral election, defeating former mayor Francis Cornwall Sherman (who ran as an anti-Nebraska candidate).^[5][6]

He died in Middletown, Connecticut on June 6, 1862, and was buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.^[3]