John Francis Hylan was born April 20, 1868 in Hunter, New York. He passed away January 12, 1936. He was a graduate of New York Law School in Manhattan. He was a long-time resident of Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn . He was the former Mayor of New York He was a long-time resident of the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. Hylan became a judge in the Kings County (Brooklyn) county court and was in that position when he was tapped by Tammany Hall as a dark-horse candidate for mayor, running as a Democrat, through the promotion of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who shared with him a desire for municipal ownership of utilities. Hylan defeated the reformer John Purroy Mitchel in the four-sided 1917 mayoral election, restoring the power of Tammany at City Hall. He easily won re-election in 1921 but was defeated for re-nomination in 1925 by State Senator James J. 'Jimmy' Walker. Walker later appointed Hylan to the municipal judiciary. As mayor, Hylan railed against 'the interests' and put in motion the building of a publicly owned and operated subway system, which became the IND division of the New York City Subway. Following his mayoralty, his successor Jimmy Walker, whom Hylan had criticized, appointed him to Queens Children's Court. When Alva Johnston asked Walker why he would appoint a rival, he quipped that it was so 'the children now can be tried by their peer'.