17th Century NYC Records Confirm Zohran Mamdani is 112th Mayor, Not The 111th
A centuries-old clerical oversight has officially misnumbered New York City’s mayors, according to a rediscovery in the city’s municipal archives that confirms Zohran Mamdani will become the 112th mayor, not the 111th, as originally reported.
The correction stems from the verification of a second, previously uncounted term served by Mathias Nicolls in 1674. Michael Lorenzini, a researcher with New York City’s Department of Records, uncovered original documentation that shows Nicolls held nonconsecutive terms, a status which should result in him being counted twice in the city’s official list of mayors, similar to the treatment of U.S. presidents.
“The initial question was, should Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani be counted as the 111th or 112th?” Lorenzini wrote in a post on the Department of Records’ blog. “One thing for certain is he is not Mayor 111.”
“It does appear that on January 1, 2026, Mayor Mamdani should be mayor number 112,” he added.
Lorenzini discovered the crucial evidence in the “Mayor’s Court Minute Book,” a historical volume preserved in the New York County Clerk’s office. It contains handwritten minutes from court proceedings that Nicolls presided over during his second term. “That’s sort of the mic drop of historical research,” Lorenzini said. “If you can actually get your hands on the original source materials, you could say, ‘OK, I’ve traced it back as far as I can go. It’s not hearsay anymore.’”
The miscount problem was brought to light by historian Paul Hortenstine of Washington, D.C., who had contacted Gothamist with concerns that Nicolls’ second term had been overlooked. Hortenstine was examining early New York City mayors’ involvement with slavery when he discovered the omission.
“This isn’t just about what number it is, but it’s also about an opportunity for [Mamdani] and his team to think about what story they want to tell about New York City,” Hortenstine said.
Nicolls, whose family owned large tracts of land on Long Island, was a known slaveholder. “It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that New York City has been involved with slavery since its founding,” said Robert Snyder, Manhattan borough historian and professor at Rutgers University. Snyder praised the discovery for exposing “new evidence of slavery’s ties to the city’s political leadership and merchant class.”
David Thomas Valentine, a 19th-century clerk of the city’s Common Council, first compiled informational pamphlets that included historical lists of mayors. Later, the city’s Green Book—its official government guide—began including mayoral lists in 1921. None of these sources, according to Lorenzini, acknowledged Nicolls’ second term.
There is past precedent for updating the mayoral record. In 1937, Charles Lodwick, who served from 1694 to 1695, was added as the 21st mayor. But despite longstanding awareness of the Nicolls error, no official correction had been made. “It’s been pointed out, at least going back to 1935, that Nicolls had the second term and somehow nobody really paid attention,” Lorenzini said.
The oversight has had a ripple effect through the city’s recorded history of civic leadership. For instance, Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was widely referred to as the city’s 109th mayor, would in fact be the 110th. Mayor Eric Adams has similarly adopted the misnumbering, often telling reporters, “I’m 110.”
Kenneth Scott, a history professor at Queens College, wrote about Nicolls’ second term in 1982 after reviewing the same Mayor’s Court records. In 1989, Peter R. Christoph of the New York State Library published further confirmation in the Record of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, which began, “Edward I. Koch is the 105th Mayor of New York. The City Of New York Official Directory says so. So does The New York Times. But they are wrong: He is the 106th. Not only is he misnumbered, but so is everyone else after mayor number seven.”
As the city nears its next administration, the matter of correcting the public record remains unresolved. First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro stated that the decision would be left to the incoming administration. A spokesperson for Mamdani did not respond to a request for comment.