William Taussig
Values Codes: I – H – E – L
William Taussig (1826-1913) was born in Prague (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and studied medicine and chemistry at the prestigious University of Prague.
The Taussig family began emigrating from Prague to St. Louis in 1840 and William joined the family in 1848.
He took further classes in medicine and in 1851 opened a successful medical practice in Carondelet, a town adjacent to St. Louis.
Carondelet held its first election in 1852 and chose William Taussig as its first mayor.
He created a public school system using available vacant buildings and served two years until ill health forced his resignation.
In 1859, his health had recovered and he won election as St. Louis County commissioner and was re-elected in 1861 and 1863.
William Taussig
In the latter year, the county board voted William Taussig as county board president.
St. Louis’s city government had collapsed, and the county board was the only functioning governmental unit.
When Confederate troops threatened St. Louis, defending Union forces needed two additional regiments and William Taussig led the county board to approve a large loan for the troop increase.
After the war, Taussig became a bank president and supervised construction of six bridges and tunnels across the Mississippi River.
Taussig headed the St. Louis board of education for twelve years. The board named the William Taussig School in his honor.
Taussig also became a director of Washington University in St. Louis.
Source
- Mark Rutzik, Breaking New Ground: The Untold Story of Early America’s Jewish Electoral Pioneers – 1788 to 1920, 2025.
Mark Rutzick is the curator of this William Taussig exhibit.