Did lawless towns of the wild west have mayors?

towns were formed in the west when people put up homes and buildings so they could trade off the available market. If a railroad were passing thru it would be near the tracks. If it was before the railroad, it would be that it was put up at a point before a trail going east/west reached a difficult part of terrain to travel (dessert, or mountain passes, indian territory, or rivers)

Some towns were built near forts so they could count on the army's protection.

The Land rush, Gold rush and general movement west brought the families that would settle and farm or ranch--town grew up nearby to service them.

The brothals, and gamblers traveled to the place where the money was, moving when they were forced out by the religious community, or by the closing of mines, etc.

as to the governments-- they were what the good citizens of the towns wanted. They didn't have to have any government, and many didn't-- if they did, yes they may have elected a mayor, or perhaps the richest person in the town (may own most of the businesses) would appoint himself mayor, perhaps not in name, but in duties... and the sherriff could be a hired gunman with a legal standing--or a local who was elected by his fellow citizens. Wyatt Eyrp and his brothers were early mobsters, Bat Masterson, a gunslinger, Doc Holiday, a gambler.

Suggest that you look up some books on the wild west, lots of good reading there. The Wild West was Wild before the end of the Civil War.

considering all this, make sure that if you do assassinate the mayor, its of concequense to the citizens of the town, they may not like him if he a rich guy that just took over. Remember too that it wasn't uncommon for officials to be killed, just because... no reason necessary.

Yes they did. However, the really bad towns weren't controlled by the mayor. Either he was in collusion with the wild groups or he was too scared to stand up to them. You should read up on the history of Tombstone that will give you a good idea of how some of the towns in the wild west were run.

You should also read up on Tammany Hall which was a political machine that controlled politics in NYC around that same time. although it isn't the wild west it does give you a look at the politics of the time period.

The mayor of your wild west town could be an interesting character in your book taking into account all of the strings and favors he would have to pull to keep himself in office.

I don't think a lawless town would keep a sheriff for too long.

I owuld think it was the most powerful person there that called the shots.

Like a gang/mob leader.

Like the owner of a bar or brothel.

Whoever has the muscle makes the rules.

Yes, but usually the mayor was either a crook or totally ineffectual. He just let things go, turned a blind eye and took payoffs.

i think so . however back then, some of the mayors were self appointed from the north and many were just as lawless as some dictators that reside in other countries.