1847, representing LaSalle, Grundy, and Kendall counties. He was a Chicago Alderman, serving as a member of the Chicago City Council, known then as the Common Council, from 1845 to 1848. He ran for mayor in 1848 and was elected in a landslide, and then was re-elected for a second consecutive term with a substantial majority in the face of limited organized opposition. He was the first politician elected to two successive mayoral terms in Chicago. Mayor of Chicago Woodworth ran for mayor as an Independent Democrat during a period when the national political parties, the Whigs and the Democrats, experienced great upheaval. His Mayoral campaign represented a stunning blow to the Democratic party of Chicago, unseating the Democratic Party's Mayor, James Curtiss; it would take the Democrats and Curtiss two full election cycles to regain the Mayoral office. The short lived Independent Democrats of Chicago is an early example of a successful large city "fusion party." Woodworth was sworn-in as mayor on March 14, 1848. As mayor, Woodworth presided over the opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal on April 16, 1848. Woodworth was instrumental in opening Chicago to all major railroads. His political opponents had preferred restricting the railroads' access to Chicago; the more liberal policy adopted by Woodworth, which permitted each railroad to have its own terminal in addition to access, enhanced the position of Chicago as a central trading location for the entire Midwest. He also facilitated the installation of telegraph lines to the west; on January 15, 1848, the first telegraph message to be received in Chicago was sent from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and received in Chicago, Illinois. By 1849, Woodworth's pro-commerce policies had established Chicago as an outfitting center for gold seekers heading west to seek their fortunes. During his terms the city's population grew to 20,000. By the end of his two mayoral terms Chicago had been transformed from a bustling frontier trading town to one of the major centers of commerce in the Midwest with a major stake in the opening of the West to the entire country. During Woodworth's terms as Mayor, Chicago was challenged by a series of disasters. The first disaster was an outbreak of cholera; Woodworth responded to the cholera epidemic by building a municipal sewer system. On March 12, 1849 there was a great flood caused by excess ice on the waterways. On July 21, 1849, Chicago was