Parks, Lyman S. (Lyman Starling), 1917-2009

Rev. Lyman Starling Parks (March 12, 1917 – November 4, 2009) was an American pastor and politician. He served as the mayor of Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1971 to 1976, the first African-American to serve in the position.

Born in Princeton, Indiana and raised at Lyles Station, Indiana, Parks attended Indiana State Teachers College before graduating from Wilberforce University and Payne Theological Seminary in 1944. That same year, he began working as a minister at the Wayman Chapel African Methodist Episcopalian (AME) Church in Kokomo, Indiana. For the next twenty years, Parks served as a pastor in various churches in Indiana and Michigan. In 1966 Parks moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan to serve as a pastor at the First Community AME Church. In 1968, he ran to become the representative for the Third Ward on the Grand Rapids City Commission. He won the position by over a thousand votes, largely through the support of his congregation, and became the first black commissioner in the city’s history.

Parks was appointed mayor in 1971 by the city commission to fill the vacancy left behind by Robert Boelens when he resigned. Parks then ran for the office in 1973 with broad support including then-Congressman Gerald Ford. Parks defeated ten other candidates, making him officially the first African American to be elected as mayor in Grand Rapids. Throughout his years of service to the city he made a lasting influence on his community. He was recognized as an honest and charismatic leader who helped the city through a period of great social change and racial tensions. Parks’ major achievement in office was spearheading the renovation and revitalization of downtown Grand Rapids, helping to boost the town’s economy. He lost his bid for re-election in 1976.

After his time as mayor, Parks returned to his work as a minister at the First Community AME Church where he worked until he retired from the position in 1985. At that point, Parks and his wife moved to Chicago, where he continued his work as a minister in Chicago’s Greater Institutional AME Church. He decided to retire permanently in 1999 and moved back to Grand Rapids. Parks lived the last year of his life in Lisle, Illinois before dying in Cook County, Illinois. He is buried in Crown Point Cemetery in Kokomo, Indiana.