On January 1, Zoharan Mamdani is expected to be sworn in as the 111th mayor of New York City.
But one historian says he has made a discovery that could rewrite five centuries of history: the number is wrong. According to research by Paul Hortenstein, Mamdani is actually the 112th mayor. He says the error dates back to 1674, when Mayor Matthias Nikolaus served a second, non-consecutive term that is not reflected in official records. Another historian and a historical group confirmed the findings.
Miscounts have a domino effect. Nicholls’ absence means that the number of each next mayor is reduced by one. Fiorella La Guardia was not the 99th mayor; He was the 100th. Mayor Eric Adams, who repeatedly proclaims that “I’m 110 years old,” is actually 111 years old.
Hortenstein, a public policy and history writer who lives in Washington, DC, said reform is necessary.
“I hope the city takes the mayors’ history very seriously,” he said.
Hortenstein said he came across historical documents referring to Nichols’ second term while researching the relationship between New York City’s early mayors and slavery. The collection of papers of New York colonial governor Edmund Andros included a reference to Nicholas.
Mayor Adams often referred to himself as “110”. But he would actually have been 111 years old.
Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
Hortenstein said, “This was in 1675. So, when I later looked at the official list of the city, I saw that they had missed the word.”
Nicholas’s first one-year term in 1672 is reflected in a book of mayors in the municipal archives, “The Renaissance of City Hall”, which reads “At this time there were 2,500 inhabitants.”
As is the case with American presidents, non-consecutive terms for mayor are counted twice.
Hortenstein said he found other documents, including materials from New York Historical, that also reference Nichols’ second term.
New York Historical spokeswoman Marybeth Ihle said a preliminary search of the museum’s archives found three references to Nicholas’s 1674–1675 mayoralty in “The Iconography of Manhattan Island,” a New York history book based on primary sources.
As he dug deeper, Hortenstein realized that he was not the first person to encounter the obvious mistake.
In 1989, Peter R. Christophe wrote about the observation in “Records of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society”.
“Edward I. Koch is the 105th Mayor of New York,” his essay began. “The official directory of New York City says so. The New York Times says the same. But they’re wrong: He’s the 106th. Not only has he been given the wrong number, but everyone else after Mayor No. 7 has been given the wrong number. It’s a mind-boggling thought: 99 mayors were given the wrong number – most of them went to their graves secure in the knowledge of their place in history, but all of them were numerically weird. How could that be? Is it?”
A book depicting the mayors of New York City in the municipal archives.
Elizabeth Kim/Gothmist
He noted in a footnote that the error had appeared in the 1841 manual of the Corporation of New York City and was repeated in later government documents. Kristof, who worked for the New York State Library, died in 2019.
Ken Cobb, assistant commissioner of the city records department, said he was aware of no effort to investigate the mistake. The Department of Citywide Administrative Services publishes an annual guide to municipal government, known as the Green Book, which lists every mayor since 1665. Nicholls’ second term is nowhere to be found in the city’s official directory.
The Green Book contains the official directory of the New York City government and its history.
Elizabeth Kim/Gothmist
During a recent visit to municipal archives, Cobb found no mention of Nichols’ second term. But he did not dispute Hortenstein’s conclusions.
“We are the keepers of records. We are not the creators of records,” Cobb said. “That’s a good question. Who noticed this discrepancy? Apparently, this historian did.”
The official list of mayors is an example of reform. In 1937, Charles Lodwick, who served from 1694–1695, was inducted as the 21st mayor.
“Everyone got to number one and it’s been that way ever since,” Cobb said.
Historical records show that Nicholas was born in England in 1630. He was a lawyer and held various government posts in New York under British rule. His family owned parts of Long Island. Like other prominent officials of the time, he was a slave owner.
So will the Adams administration, which has made a flurry of last-minute policy decisions, recognize Nichols’ full place in mayoral history?
First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said he had never heard of the missing mayor.
,I think we’ll leave this issue to historians and – for a change – to the next administration,” Mastro said.
Mamdani’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
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