A Small Historical Error With Big Symbolic Implications
The matter of a mayor’s number might seem ceremonial, but for a city as old and storied as New York, those numbers carry meaning. They help mark eras of leadership, record political transitions, and anchor moments of civic history.
While researching early mayors and their roles in the economic activities of the seventeenth century, historian Paul Hortenstine uncovered a discrepancy that most scholars and officials had overlooked. His work led him deep into city archives, where he found records concerning Matthias Nicolls, an early mayor who served during New York’s Dutch and English transition period.
Because that second term was never given its proper number, a ripple effect followed. Every mayor after Nicolls has technically been off by one.
Hortenstine shared his findings with the mayor-elect’s office in hopes of correcting the historical record. He emphasized that the original oversight likely occurred in the seventeenth century, when recordkeeping lacked the consistency and precision expected today.
Earlier Clues That Went Unaddressed
Interestingly, this is not the first time a historian has flagged the error. In 1989, Peter R. Christoph published research raising questions about why New York’s mayoral history appeared to skip a number during Nicolls’s era. Christoph wondered how the city’s long succession of mayors—nearly one hundred at the time—had managed to retain an incorrect count without a correction.
At the time, his findings were noted but didn’t lead to a formal change. Historical records often take years, even decades, to be revisited, especially when the issue does not directly affect governance. With the discovery resurfacing during a high-profile administration change, there is renewed interest in addressing the inconsistency.
For older New Yorkers who have seen debates over street names, monuments, and city archives, this moment is a reminder that history is not a fixed document. It is an evolving record that occasionally needs attention from each generation.
