Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of mayors of Pekin, Illinois

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's
talk page or in a deletion review
). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete‎ . The deletes were based on

ITSUSEFUL. Based on that, I have to give more weight to the delete side. Guerillero ^{Parlez Moi} 14:31, 22 April 2023 (UTC)[reply

]

List of mayors of Pekin, Illinois

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Fails LISTN. Long list of nn names. Souces in article are primary, no other sources show this meets LISTN discussing this as a group. LISTCRUFT // Timothy :: talk 10:37, 20 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Lists of people and Illinois. Shellwood (talk) 12:25, 20 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, $Salvio giuliano$ 11:53, 27 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Politicians-related deletion discussions. CAPTAIN RAJU^(T) 15:52, 27 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Delete: Though a small handful may be notable via service in the legislature, most are not. Fails
WP:NLIST. Curbon7 (talk) 18:30, 27 March 2023 (UTC)[reply
]
I will note that, as per the list presented below, there are two additional mayors who are notable via service in the legislature but do not yet have articles. As such, I think there is merit to at least a partial merge argument, but the logic for keeping is still shaky at best. Curbon7 (talk) 04:18, 9 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Keep Two have articles, and it is otherwise a useful list that is too long to keep in the main article. QuicoleJR (talk) 22:11, 30 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
You are correct in that this does not belong in the body of the article either; it is not Wikipedia's duty to keep record of every single small-town mayor. The two that are notable (out of a list of 53) is due to their service in a legislative body. Curbon7 (talk) 00:11, 31 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I would suggest that the question is whether a list of elected officials fits within what
spinoff from a notable subject. I am generally of the opinion that these lists of mayors are acceptable spinoffs from the parent city article. - Enos733 (talk) 20:15, 31 March 2023 (UTC)[reply
]

Comment: Lists in Wikipedia need to be either encyclopedic content meeting NLIST or serve a purpose around CLN/AOAL. This list does not meet either criteria. Wikipedia is not a repository for everything. The source for the list can be easily added (believe its already there) to the main article. Listcruft like this could be created for public officials of various offices in almost all towns in much of the world. There is no need or useful purpose to list all nn mayors of all towns in separate lists, no need for separate lists of nn city councils, nn country sherrifs and coroners, or any other lists of nn public officials not passing NLIST. This is not a list of notable mayors. // Timothy :: talk 21:43, 31 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Lists can also be considers a valid spinoff from a parent article (in this case the city of Pekin). It is not up to us to judge whether there is a need or a useful purpose, but whether the article complies with our community policies and guidelines. As I mentioned above, I don't think a list of elected officials (especially a list of mayors) clearly is described in
WP:NOT and often, the community has evaluated a list of mayors at AfD through the lens of the size of the city, which is not necessarily the best metric. - Enos733 (talk) 23:01, 31 March 2023 (UTC)[reply
]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 01:31, 6 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Delete per nom. There is no real notability in having been a mayor of Pekin. Clarityfiend (talk) 09:59, 6 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Comment I put a neutrally-worded notice at Talk:Pekin, Illinois. QuicoleJR (talk) 15:54, 6 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Keep There are two entries so it is a spin-off from the page. As an alternative. Include on the page for Pekin under Government. It could be in a collapsed list as such.Patapsco913 (talk) 04:12, 9 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Unneeded CFORK, only purpose is to make readers chase links. // Timothy :: talk 04:17, 9 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The list is useful. Not sure how it gets people to chase links? Why would someone chase a link if they were not interested? Is not one of the purposes of wikipedia is to link related articles?13:23, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
Delete unclear how this meets
WP:LISTN. ResonantDis_tortion 16:48, 13 April 2023 (UTC)[reply
]

Mayors of Pekin, Illinois

Image	Mayor	Years
Bernard Bailey	1849–50	Resigned at city council's request
Abram Woolston	1850–51	Won in a special election
James Harriott	1851–52
Middleton Tackaberry	1853, 1857
Merrill C. Young	1854–55
Leonard H. Wilkey	1856
Peter Weyrich	1858–59
Isaac E. Leonard	1860–61
Benjamin S. Prettyman	1862
Samuel E. Barber	1863
Thomas C. Reeves	1864
William W. Sellers	1865–66	Resigned to accept an appointment to the state legislature
J. Cohenour	1865–66	Elected to the state legislature
Columbus J.D. Rupert	1867–68	Appointed
William T. Edds	1869	Appointed
David T. Thompson	1870–71
John Stoltz	1872
John Herget	1873–74
Columbus R. Cummings	1875–76	First mayor to serve under a new two-year term length
Abial B. Sawyer	1877–78
Herman W. Hippen	1879–80
Thomas Cooper	1881–84, 1891–92
John L. Smith	1885–86
Albert R. Warren	1887–88
Ernest F. Unland	1889–90
Everett W. Wilson	1893–94, 1899–1900
Charles Duisdieker	1895–96
Daniel Sapp	1897–98, 1905–07
William J. Conzelman	1901–04, 1909–11
Henry Schnellbacher	1907–09

Commission system^[1]

Name	Term	Notes
Charles Duisdieker	1911–1915	First mayor elected under the commission system
Charles Schaefer	1915–1919
William Schurman	1919–1923
Benjamin F. Michael	1923–1927, 1931
L.B. Kinsey	1927–1931
L. Russell	1931–1935	Appointed to fill vacancy until next election
W.E. Schurman	1935–1939
John Norman Shade	1939–1954	Resigned in April 1954
John J. McGinty	1954–1955	Appointed to fill vacancy until next election
Norman E. Wolfer	1955–1959
John Norman Shade	1959–1966	Resigned in October 1966
William L. Waldmeier	1966–1979	Appointed in 1966 and later elected in 1967
Willard E. Birkmeier	1979–1987
Larry Homerin	1987–1991
Don Williams	1991–1995

Council-manager system

David Tebben	1995–2003	First mayor elected under the council manager form of government
Lyndell Howard	2003–2005	Removed from office upon felony official misconduct conviction
Frank Mackaman	2005–2007	Appointed to fill Howard vacancy
David Tebben	2007–2008	Died in office December 12, 2008
Rusty Dunn	2008–2011	Appointed to fill Tebben vacancy
Laurie Barra	2011–2015	First female mayor in Pekin history
John McCabe	2015–2019
Mark Luft	2019–present

References

^ Renner, Chic; et al. (1974). Pekin Sesquicentennial: A History, 1824–1974. Pekin Chamber of Commerce. p. 162.

WP:SPINOFF argument?
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Xymmax ^{So let it be written} _{So let it be done} 02:28, 14 April 2023 (UTC)[reply

]

Weak Keep. I don't think it is important that the people on the list are not individually notable. I am assuming good faith for online sources. I am not certain of this part (hence the "weak") but I don't think the sources are primary. Most importantly, this seems like useful encyclopedic information. This is exactly the sort of thing I can imagine historians wanting to read about. I know there is a culture of requiring three sources, but I don't think that is a rule. CT55555(talk) 01:17, 22 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Do you have any sources showing this meets LISTN? // Timothy :: talk 01:33, 22 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
When I said "I am assuming good faith for online sources" I meant offline sources. It seems like they contain lists, the way it is presented. Do you agree that is fair? Or am I missing something? CT55555(talk) 01:38, 22 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: To reiterate, the only reason why four (out of the ~50 listed) are notable is not because of their tenures as mayors of this exceptionally small town, but because they instead held a separate
not an indiscriminate database of every single small-town mayor that's ever lived. Curbon7 (talk) 02:13, 22 April 2023 (UTC)[reply
]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review
). No further edits should be made to this page.

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