Alonzo Kimball

Alonzo Kimball (November 29, 1808 – August 7, 1900) was an American educator, businessman, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was the 14th and 16th mayor of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and served as treasurer of the relief organization for the victims of the 1871 Peshtigo fire.

He is also the grandfather of American portrait painter and illustrator Alonzo Myron Kimball (18741923).

Biography Alonzo Kimball was born in the town of Le Ray, Jefferson County, New York, in November 1808. He was raised and educated on his father's farm in Le Ray until 1816, when his family moved to Leyden, New York. In the 1830s he attended Union College, graduating in 1836. After graduating, he attended Andover Theological Seminary, intent on following after his father into a church career; he was forced to abandon his studies in 1839 due to poor health.

Instead, Kimball began teaching school in Lee, Massachusetts. In 1847, he moved west to the Wisconsin Territory, settling briefly in Milwaukee. In 1849, he moved north to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he resumed teaching. When the Peshtigo Fire Relief Committee was formally established, Kimball was selected as treasurer of the organization.

In addition to his service as mayor, Kimball also served as a member of the city council and the local school board, and was appointed postmaster of Green Bay from 1877 to 1884.

Alonzo's younger sister, Lucy, married Methodist theologian Henry M. Bannister. Their daughter, Mary Bannister Willard, became a leader in the Temperance movement. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living graduate of Union College. Kimball Street in Green Bay is named for him.