John Thomas Browne (March 23, 1845 – August 19, 1941) was an American merchant and politician. He served on the Houston City Council, two terms as Mayor of Houston, and three terms in the Texas House of Representatives.
Early life
John Thomas Browne was born March 23, 1845, in Ballylanders, County Limerick, Ireland to Michael and Winifred (Hennessy) Browne. His family emigrated into the United States in October 1851. Not long after arriving in New Orleans, his father died. In 1852, Winifred relocated with her five children to Houston, Texas to be closer to family of her mother. Winifred's Irish uncle, Patrick Hayes, was an herbal medicine doctor and farmer in Madison County, Texas.
Browne spent much of the 1850s on Spann Plantation in Washington County, Texas at the behest of Father Gunnard, where he also received an education. At age fourteen in 1859, he left the plantation and found work hauling bricks in Madison County, Texas. He returned to Houston to first work as a baggage hauler, then performed messenger duties for Commercial and Southwestern Express Company before settling in at the Houston and Texas Central Railroad.
Browne's first term as Mayor of Houston began the same year as the Panic of 1893. He had campaigned on a platform of balancing the budget. The City of Houston ran budget deficits during Browne's first term, but these deficits were proportionately lower than those in previous years. Browne had been an advocate for lowering municipal utility bills through municipal ownership of the utilities. However, estimates for the City of Houston to build its own waterworks and electrical power plant had gone up to a range $500,000 to $900,000. Browne abandoned this option while favoring a policy of dedicating all capital spending on street paving and sewerage. The Browne administration also hired a city planning expert to study demands based hypothetically on a population of 75,000.
Mayor Browne proposed converting the Houston Volunteer Firefighters to a professional department under municipal management. The City of Houston would need to buy existing equipment and horses from the volunteer department, but could lease firehouses and would not be required to buy them. Houston City Council drafted an ordinance and passed it.
In April 1895, the Texas Supreme Court ruling in Higgins v. Bordages, "held that special assessment tax liens were unenforceable against urban homesteads." The City of Houston imposed special tax levies for road and sewerage projects on owners of property abutting the sections of street being improved. The ruling effectively removed the only tool the city had for enforcing payment of the special assessments by homeowners. Road construction contractors stopped all work because they feared the city would not pay them. Many homeowners stopped paying their assessment bills.
Browne represented Houston in the Texas House of Representatives from 1897 to 1899, and again in 1907. He was survived by six children and thirty-eight grand children.