John L. Flagg
John L. Flagg, Rho, 1857, Phi Alpha,1864
John L. Flagg, Rho, 1857, was a prominent attorney, businessman and elected public official in Troy, New York.
He was first elected school commissioner of the Third Ward of Troy in 1860, followed as manager and president of the Troy Men’s Association in 1862 and 1863. He was elected justice of Justices’ Court of Troy in 1862 and appointed by the Common Council as police magistrate of the city until 1865. In 1866, he was elected Mayor of Troy being the youngest person ever elected to that
position. He was re-elected Mayor in 1867. In 1868, he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature and re-elected annually from 1869-1871 serving as chairman of committee on ways and means in 1869; chairman of the committee on public instruction in 1870 and chairman of the committee on railroads in 1971.Brother Flagg was a director of the Troy City Bank from 1864 until his passing in 1874.
He was the driving force behind the founding of the Pi chapter at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in 1864. Among the chapter’s five charter members was Satterlee
Arnold, who was the first initiate and a cousin of the 9th Phi Alpha, Livingston Satterlee.
Brother Arnold later served as Phi Alpha of the fraternity in 1875-1876.