Frank W. Griese
Mayor of Evansville, Indiana
1930 - 1935

      From a laborer, a machine hand in furniture factories and broker in merchandising, Frank W. Griese rose to the highest office any City can offer, that of Mayor.

      He went in bearing Democratic colors in the November election of 1929 at a time when all seemed lost in Democratic circles in Evansville. The City and County, even the State and Nation, had been Republican for a number of years and the election of 1929 changed the picture.

      As chief executive he has weathered storms that seem to brew above the heads of all such public officials and has striven to make Evansville a better place in which to live.

      Aside from administration duties he has given considerable time to the Boy's Patrol movement which he, as Mayor and member of the Automobile Club of Evansville, helped to sponsor. As a result of this work accidents and fatalities from automobiles have been greatly diminished.

      Mayor Griese was born October 25, 1870 at Tell City Indiana, the son of Frank A. and Eva F. (Trott) Griese. He came to Evansville with his parents when ten years old and attended Carpenter and Fulton Schools. On graduation he attended Central Normal at Danville, Indiana, for one and one-half years from 1892 to 1894.

      On his return from Central Normal he began the brokerage business, there remaining until his election in 1929.

      He is Past Exalted Ruler of the Elks Lodge, a member of the Ohio River Bridge Dedication Committee and belongs to the Bethel Evangelical Church. He was President of the City Council when the late Mayor Benjamin Bosse died and was later made City Comptroller. While still in the brokerage business he became President of the Evansville Table Company and Central Warehouse Company.

      On May 26, 1897 Mayor Griese married Martha Helbich. To the union were born two children, Martha L. and Dorothy.

      The Griese home is located at 705 E. Chandler Avenue.