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Pennsylvania Trails History and Genealogy

Bower, William F.

WILLIAM F. BOWER, alderman of the Second Ward, is the son of Franklin and Mary (Case) Bower, and was born in South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, Pa., December 18, 1873. He was educated in the public schools and early in youth came to Allentown, where he was employed for fourteen years in the plant of the American Steel and Wire Company. He has always taken an active interest in political affairs, and is a Democratic leader. He served one term as a common councilman, and for three years was a patrolman under Mayor James L. Schaadt. He also served as chief of police under Mayor Alfred J. Yost, but resigened to accept the commission of alderman of the Second Ward, to which office he was elected in May, 1907, and re-elected without opposition in 1913, receiving teh endorsement of both the Democratic and Republican parties. During the Spanish-American War he served as corporal of socially as well as politically, is a member of the following organizations: Lehigh Democratic Club; Pioneer Fire Company; Sons of Veterans; Barger Lodge, No. 333, F. and A. M.; Spanish-American War Veterans; Y. M. C. A., and St. Paul's Lutheran Church. In 1893 he married Kate L., daughter of Jacob and Maria (Derr) Kehm, of Allentown.