ROSE, WILLIAM GREY (23 Sept. 1829-15 Sept. 1899), businessman, real estate developer, and Republican mayor of Cleveland (1877-78, 1891-92), was born in Mercer County, Pa. to James and Martha McKinley Rose. He attended Austinburg Grand River Institute in Ohio and Beaver Academy, studied law in Mercer, and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1855, practicing law there. He served in the Pennsylvania legislature, 1857-58. Rose came to Cleveland in 1865 and became a member of the Cuyahoga County bar. He helped found CLEVELAND PROVISION CO., prospered in the oil-refining business, and developed real estate subdivisions east and south of the city. By 45 he was independently wealthy.
Elected mayor during a depression resulting from the Panic of 1873, Rose cut the administrative expenses of the city government. He also helped prevent violence during the strike against the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway in 1877 and the coopers' strike that same year. His second term as mayor was the first under a new charter granted by the state known as the federal plan of government. He was an able administrator, providing the city with cleaner streets and better enforcement of city contracts. He supported lower gas rates to consumers. Rose married Martha E. Parmelee in 1858, and they had 4 children, (Alice) Evelyn (Mrs. Chas. R. Miller), Hudson, Frederick Holland, and Wm. Kent. Rose died in Cleveland.