by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer
He was the ‘Mayor Mike’ of the 19th century.
Like Mayor Mike Bradley – who liked people to refer to him as ‘Mayor Mike’ – Michael Fleming was elected Chief Magistrate while still a very young man.
In fact, when Mayor Bradley was sworn in at age 32, he broke Fleming’s record. The first ‘Mayor Mike’ had been elected as a 35-year old.
But besides being the youngest Mayor Sarnia had yet seen, Fleming was also one of the most progressive. Indeed, under his direction Council launched the local parks system and installed the community’s first gas street lights.
Fleming, who came to Sarnia in 1859, was an agent of the Montreal Telegraph Company.
Later, he became a banker and operated an exchange office business.
He was elected Sarnia’s 11th Mayor in 1876, serving for two years before stepping down. But he was back on the hot seat as the 75th Mayor nearly a decade later, serving in 1884 and 1885.
During his first two years Council approved construction of a fire department engine house, banned steamboats from blowing their whistles in port and began laying water pipes on back streets.
Council also started installing hydrants in what The Observer referred to as “the back pan of Town”, so people living outside the core could get “free water”.
During his second stint as Mayor, Town Fathers began installing gas lamps on streets and laid plans to develop Sarnia’s first neighbourhood parks. Today, such parks can be found throughout the municipality.
He also served for a time on the Public School Board and was the Town’s Treasurer.
Mayor Fleming lived at 257 Vidal Street S., which today is home of the Kenneith Gallery.
Although he never talked about it, he had a reputation as a man who donated generously to churches, charities and sports organizations.
He died at age 57 on July 75, 1892, leaving behind a wife and six children.
According to The Observer, Fleming literally worked himself to death. “He was an active participant in every election contest waged in the Town and in almost every political struggle in the County that has taken place since Confederation”, the newspaper noted. “Many of them were exceedingly bitter and in most of them he was the central figure around which the contest raged. Life with him was run at high pressure; the continued strain of mental activities and worry was more than the physical frame could endure and at the comparatively early age of 57 years the inevitable result ensued”.