Albion Interactive History / People / Charles Dalrymple

Albion Interactive History

Albion Interactive History / People

Charles Wylie Dalrymple, 1838
13th Mayor, 1900School Board

 
    Died 1907

City of Albion Mayor +

Biography
Charles Wylie Dalrymple was the local postmaster from 1861 through 1866. He was born May 15, 1833 in Ypsilanti, and came here as a child in 1839. He attended not only the Little Red Schoolhouse, but also the Wesleyan Seminary, later known as Albion College. As a young man, he clerked in Hannahs’ & Son store, and later for E.B. Frost & Co., before going into business for himself as a local dry goods merchant. Dalrymple was a member of the Alert fire department, and served on the board of directors of theNational Exchange Bank of Albion. He was elected mayor of Albion in 1900. Dr. Elmore Palmer writes:

Mr. Dalrymple was always prominently identified in all of Albion’s best interests. Inbusiness and official life he left a record worthy of imitation. He was especially interested inthe growth and prosperity of Albion’s public schools. With him the education of the young was close to his heart. (Elmore Palmer, “Biographical Sketches,” No. 36, Albion Mirror, 18 December 1908)

Dalrymple served on Albion’s board of education for thirty-nine consecutive years, the longest serving board member in the school system’s history. He gave it up only on account of declining health and advancing years. For over a quarter of a century, Mr. Dalrymple kept an album in which he recorded the autographs of all the teachers, the graduates of the high school, and members of the board of education. He died May 20, 1907 at the age of 74, and was buried at Riverside Cemetery. The Dalrymple School was erected in 1916 in his memory.


Charles Wylie Dalrymple (1838-1907), longest serving school board member.

Source: Frank Passic. A History of the Albion Public Schools. Albion, Michigan: E. Weil Publishing Services. 1991.