Mayor Albert Isaac Beach, 32°
(Jul 30, 1883-Jan 21, 1939)

Member, Temple Lodge #299

1925 - 32° Consistory of Western Missouri, Kansas City

Occupation: Kansas City Mayor, attorney.
Recommended: FI Buckingham, GE Kimball
Interred: Forest Hill Cemetery, Kansas City, MO

Albert I. Beach served as mayor of Kansas City from 1924 to 1930. Under his administration, a new city charter was voted in that established a city manager form of government for Kansas City.

Beach was born on July 30, 1883, in Olathe, Kansas. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1905, and received his law degree from Washington University, St. Louis, in 1907. Beach moved to Kansas City in 1908 and worked as a lawyer. An outgoing and personable man, he soon became popular in political circles. Beach was elected to the lower house of the city council from the fifth ward in 1910 and the fourth ward in 1912. He was elected mayor in 1924 as a reform advocate.

Kansas City Manager Henry F. McElroy, a former county judge, assumed the position as the new city manager. Significant accomplishments during Mayor Beach's tenure included the development of the City Planning Commission and the Zoning Board, both vital in keeping check on the rapid growth of the city. The new municipal airport, bringing Kansas City into the aviation age, was built under Beach's tenure. A new building for General Hospital No. 2 was also built, replacing the run-down facility for African Americans on Hospital Hill.

Retired from politics, Albert I. Beach died on January 21, 1939, at the age of 55.