John F. Martin

John Frank Martin was born on April 18,1892 in Clinton, Missouri and came to Oklahoma with his family in the Land Run of 1889 as a child. He earned degrees from St. Mary’s College and Georgetown University and was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar in 1914. In addition to serving as the twenty-fourth mayor of Oklahoma City from 1935 to 1939, during his life of public service Martin would also serve in the state legislature, as municipal counselor for Oklahoma City, on the city council, as director of the chamber of commerce, as director of the Oklahoma State Fair, on the city planning commission, and as president of the Oklahoma Tax Commission. Martin died on December 28, 1968 at the age of 76. Martin was the brother of Dr. J.T. Martin, for whom Martin Park Nature Center is named. He is buried at Resurrection Memorial Cemetery in Oklahoma City.