1931 Elections

The 1931 Cheverly Elections for Mayor and CouncilThe elections on May 18, 1931 were the first to be held by Cheverly as a newly incorporated town. We have not found the original ballot and candidates’ campaign materials. In their place we present brief biographies of the candidates. The winners’ names are in boldface. For whom would you have voted?For Mayor

Fred W. Gast (1881-1977). Gast was born in St Louis, Missouri, and retained legal residence in that state. In his youth he was a druggist’s apprentice. According to a Washington Post article published on his retirement in 1951, he entered government service in 1903. In 1909 he was assigned to perfect error-proof weighing devices for Customs use. He appears in the 1910 and 1920 District of Columbia censuses, working as an electrical engineer at the Treasury Department. He bought land in Cheverly in 1921, and later purchased 1 Cheverly Circle. He chaired the rules and procedure committee of the Cheverly Citizens Association in 1928, and served as an election judge for the town charter referendum.

Bert Herman Wise (1888-1968). Born in Iowa, Wise lived in the District of Columbia by 1910. He worked as an accountant at the Interstate Commerce Commission from 1910 to 1955, and lived in Cheverly from 1922 to 1959. He served as chairman of the public utilities and street improvements committee (1928) and president of the Cheverly Citizens Association. He was a charter referendum election election judge.

For Councilman

Ward 1

John N. Ogle (1889-1956). Ogle was born in Maryland. He lived in the District of Columbia in 1920; at that time he gave his occupation as mechanical engineer for motion pictures, and was a widow. In 1930 he was a mechanic for an electrical power company and had remarried. His Cheverly property was purchased in 1926. He was appointed to the Town Council committee to work out the details for house numbering (1931), and served on the Cheverly American Legion Post community service committee (1933).

Ward 2

George Watson Lambert (1894-1966). Born in Maryland, Lambert came to Cheverly from Baltimore, buying land in 1928. He was a topographic draftsman with the Army Map Service and Coast and Geodetic Survey. He served as secretary of the Cheverly Citizens’ Association in 1927, and on its house committee (1928), and as secretary of the Prince George’s County Federation of Citizens Associations in 1929. In 1930 he was director of the Cheverly Players.

William R. Gaither (1870-before 1960). Gaither was born in Illinois. He worked as an accountant with the Interstate Commerce Commission in Chicago before moving to Cheverly. He bought his Cheverly property, 3117 Cheverly Avenue, in 1924 and 1925. In 1928 he chaired the membership committee of the Cheverly Citizens Association, and in 1930 he was elected its corresponding secretary. He served as an election clerk for the charter referendum.

Ward 3

Fred W. Nickel (1879-?). Born in Wisconsin, Nickel began his career as a school teacher in Michigan, and married there in 1903. In 1910 he was in Shelby County, Illinois, where he identified himself as a clergyman. He lived at 2331 Belleview Avenue in Cheverly, on land purchased in 1919 and 1920, and worked as a clerk for the US government. He served as chairman of the celebrations and publicity committee of the Cheverly Citizens Association in 1928, and was a charter referendum election judge.

Reginald A. Wentworth (1881-1963). Wentworth was born in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1910 he was living in Syracuse, New York, working as a street-car conductor. In 1920 he lived in the District of Columbia and was a railroad ticket seller. He bought land in Cheverly in 1926, but in 1930 he lived on River Road near, but not in, Cheverly, and was a street railway supervisor. He served as chairman of the lawns, park and playgrounds committee of the Cheverly Citizens Association in 1928.

Ward 4

Arthur P. Buck (1869-1965). Born in Ohio, Buck lost his left arm in a hunting accident at the age of 1917. In 1900 he was a farmer, homesteading in Oklahoma. He moved to the District of Columbia in 1902 and worked as an accountant with the General Land Office. In 1918 he moved to “Tuxedo Colony,” the area that became Cheverly’s Ward 4, building a house at 1800 64th Avenue. He was elected present of the Cheverly Citizens Association in 1933.

William A. Link (1892-1970). Link was born in Kansas, and moved to the Colony in 1924. He worked as a policeman in the District of Columbia. He served as first vice-president of the Cheverly Citizens Association in 1927, and on its public utilities and street improvements committee and fire and police protection committee in 1928. In 1935 he was elected finance officer of the Cheverly Post of the American Legion.