Amos Gager Throop ( ; 1811 – 1894 ) was a businessman and politician in Chicago , Illinois during the 1840s and 1850s . Most famously he was known for being a staunch abolitionist prior to the Civil War . In Chicago , he lost two campaigns to be that city 's mayor in 1852 and 1854 . In both elections he was the nominee of the little-known Temperance Party , facing tough opposition from the Democratic Party . At the time of the Great Chicago Fire Amos was the City Treasurer of Chicago . He was instrumental in securing financing from New York to rebuild the wooden frontier town into a city of brick and mortar . Grateful Chicagoans renamed Main Street to Throop Street . Many years later and after moving to California , he was finally elected mayor — of Pasadena , California in 1888
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
Amos G. Throop