Carl Harstrom


Carl Axel Harstrom was an American educator, and one-term Republican Norwalk, Connecticut|mayor] of Norwalk, Connecticut, from 1915 to 1917.

Early life and family

Harstrom was born in Västerås, Sweden. He was the son of Carl Gustaf and Amelia Adolphina Fosberg Harstrom. His father was a manufacturer in Sweden who brought his family to America in 1872, when Carl Axel was nine years of age. He attended the Peekskill Military Academy, and graduated in 1880. He taught school for two years before entering Hobart College. He graduated as valedictory orator and with magna cum laude honors. He earned an A.B in 1886, and an M.A. in 1889. He served as headmaster at the Peekskill Academy for three years, and principle of Vienland Preparatory School for four years. On June 20, 1888, Professor Harstrom married Lee Selden Partridge of Phelps, New York.

Life in Norwalk

He moved to Norwalk in 1891 to take a position as headmaster of the Norwalk Military Academy. He started his own private preparatory school for boys in Norwalk in 1893.
While teaching and serving as headmaster, he also pursued his own education at Yale University in classical Philology from 1896 to 1899. He earned his PhD in 1899. He was a member of Theta Delta Chi, and served as its national president for five consecutive terms.

Political career

In Norwalk, he served as a member of the Board of Estimate.
In 1915, Harstrom was elected mayor of Norwalk and served a two-year term. During
his term of office he reconstructed the financial system, with the result of making it more transparent to the public. He is credited with introducing voting machines to Norwalk. He is also credited for the many miles of hard pavement laid during his term.
During the World War he was chairman of the local draft board. He was a founding board member of the Norwalk Savings Bank and of the Fairfield County Savings Bank.

Associations

Awards