he graduated in 1859. Murphy's father was a brewer and, after completing college, Murphy joined his father in the business. After his father's retirement Murphy operated the brewery and eventually merged with another local brewer to form the partnership of Kennedy & Murphy. Political career Mayor of Troy Murphy served as a city alderman from 1864 to 1866, and from 1874 to 1875 he was Troy's fire commissioner. He was mayor of Troy from 1875 to 1883. City initiatives undertaken during his mayoralty included construction of a new city hall, surfacing or resurfacing of city streets with granite paving stones, modernizing of the city water system, and reduction of the city's long-term debt. As mayor, Murphy enhanced his personal popularity by not accepting his salary, and instead distributing it to various city charities during each year's Christmas season. In addition, he earned favorable publicity by responding to a crisis at one of the city's banks. When a shortage at the Manufacturers' National Bank began a run by depositors, Murphy solicited loans from several other banks by pledging his personal credit as security. He then personally deposited $250,000 at Manufacturers' National after first ensuring that a crowd of account holders was on hand to witness his action. When word of Murphy's deposit spread, the run on the bank ended, and its officers and directors were able to take steps to restore it to solvency. Murphy also enhanced his reputation by taking steps in 1876 to ensure that supporters of Great Britain's continued rule over Ireland could demonstrate peacefully. Beginning in the 1840s, Protestant supporters of British Unionism conducted an annual Orange Day parade in Troy each July. Though Murphy was Catholic and supported Irish nationalism, when supporters of reunification threatened the 1876 Orange Day parade, Murphy ordered the chief of police to dispatch the entire city police department to protect the marchers. He then marched himself at the head of the officers who led the parade along its intended route, ensuring that the pro-Unionist demonstrators could conduct their demonstration without incident. Convention delegate A Democrat, Murphy was a delegate to numerous local, county, and state conventions. He also attended several national conventions as a delegate, including: 1876, when he supported Samuel J. Tilden for president; 1880, when he supported Tilden before backing Winfield Scott Hancock; 1884, when he supported Roswell P. Flower before switching to Grover Cleveland; 1888, when he supported