List of Governors of Pennsylvania

This is a list of Governors of Pennsylvania. The office of Pennsylvania governor was created by the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790. Before 1790, those who are listed below had held the office called president of the state Supreme Executive Council.

Presidents of the Supreme Executive Council to 1790

Governor	Term	Party	Notes
- bgcolor=#FFFFFF	Thomas Wharton, Jr.	1777– 1778	None
George Bryan	1778	None
Joseph Reed	1778– 1781	None
William Moore	1781– 1782	None
John Dickinson	1782– 1785	None
Benjamin Franklin	1785– 1788	None
Thomas Mifflin	1788– 1790	None

Governors since 1790

Governor	Term	Party	Notes
- bgcolor=#FFFFFF	Thomas Mifflin	21 December 1790– 17 December 1799	None
Thomas McKean	17 December 1799– 20 December 1808	Democratic-Republican
Simon Snyder	20 December 1808– 16 December 1817	Democratic-Republican
William Findlay	16 December 1817– 19 December 1820	Democratic-Republican
Joseph Hiester	19 December 1820– 16 December 1823	Democratic-Republican
John Andrew Shulze	16 December 1823– 15 December 1829	Democratic-Republican
George Wolf	15 December 1829– 15 December 1835	Democratic-Republican
Joseph Ritner	15 December 1835– 15 January 1839	Anti-Masonic
David Rittenhouse Porter	15 January 1839– 21 January 1845	Democratic	First Governor under Pennsylvania Constitution of 1838
Francis Rawn Shunk	21 January 1845– 9 July 1848	Democratic	Resigned
Office vacant; see below	9 July 1848– 26 July 1848
William Freame Johnston	26 July 1848– 20 January 1852	Whig
William Bigler	20 January 1852– 16 January 1855	Democratic
James Pollock	16 January 1855– 19 January 1858	Whig
William Fisher Packer	19 January 1858– 15 January 1861	Democratic
Andrew Gregg Curtin	15 January 1861– 15 January 1867	Republican
John White Geary	15 January 1867– 21 January 1873	Republican
John Frederick Hartranft	21 January 1873– 21 January 1879	Republican	First Governor under Pennsylvania Constitution of 1874
Henry Martin Hoyt	21 January 1879– 16 January 1883	Republican
Robert Emory Pattison	16 January 1883– 18 January 1887	Democratic
James Addams Beaver	18 January 1887– 20 January 1891	Republican
Robert Emory Pattison	20 January 1891– 15 January 1895	Democratic	Second administration
Daniel Hartman Hastings	15 January 1895– 17 January 1899	Republican
William Alexis Stone	17 January 1899– 20 January 1903	Republican
Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker	20 January 1903– 15 January 1907	Republican
Edwin Sydney Stuart	15 January 1907– 17 January 1911	Republican
John Kinley Tener	17 January 1911– 19 January 1915	Republican
Martin Grove Brumbaugh	19 January 1915– 21 January 1919	Republican
William Cameron Sproul	21 January 1919– 16 January 1923	Republican
Gifford Pinchot	16 January 1923– 18 January 1927	Republican
John Stuchell Fisher	18 January 1927– 20 January 1931	Republican
Gifford Pinchot	20 January 1931– 15 January 1935	Republican	Second administration
George Howard Earle	15 January 1935– 17 January 1939	Democratic
Arthur Horace James	17 January 1939– 19 January 1943	Republican
Edward Martin	19 January 1943– 3 January 1947	Republican	Resigned; see below
John Cromwell Bell, Jr.	3 January 1947– 21 January 1947	Republican
James Henderson Duff	21 January 1947– 16 January 1951	Republican
John Sydney Fine	16 January 1951– 18 January 1955	Republican
George Michael Leader	18 January 1955– 20 January 1959	Democratic
David Leo Lawrence	20 January 1959– 15 January 1963	Democratic
William Warren Scranton	15 January 1963– 17 January 1967	Republican
Raymond Philip Shafer	17 January 1967– 19 January 1971	Republican
Milton Jerrold Shapp (Shapiro)	19 January 1971– 16 January 1979	Democratic	First Governor under Pennsylvania Constitution of 1968
Richard Lewis "Dick" Thornburgh	16 January 1979– 20 January 1987	Republican
Robert Patrick CaseyAt 5 a.m. on June 14, 1993, Governor Casey transferred executive authority to Lieutenant Governor Mark Singel, and later that day underwent a heart-liver transplant operation. Singel acted as Governor until Casey resumed the powers and duties of the office on the evening December 13, 1993. Because Casey never officially resigned, however, Single was only an "acting governor."	20 January 1987– 17 January 1995	Democratic
Thomas Joseph Ridge	17 January 1995– 5 October 2001	Republican	Resigned; see below
Mark Stephen Schweiker	5 October 2001– 21 January 2003	Republican	Acting Governor, September 13 through October 5, 2001
Edward Gene Rendell	21 January 2003—	Democratic

* Following Governor Shunk's resignation due to illness, an interregnum of 17 days occurred before Governor Johnston was sworn in, during which time the office was vacant. Under the state's constitution of the time, the Speaker of the Senate should have become Governor upon Shunk's resignation. Johnston however was not officially notified until six days after Shunk's death (17 days following his resignation).
* Governor Martin resigned to take a seat in the United States Senate.
* On September 13, 2001, Governor Ridge was enlisted to aid in national homeland security efforts following the September 11th terrorist attacks, temporarily transferring his powers to Schweiker. He later resigned to accept the position of Director of Homeland Security (now Secretary of Homeland Security).

A number of surnames of governors are used as names of east-west streets in the South Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, the state's largest city. Names used in this manner, from north to south and from earliest to latest service as governor, include Wharton, Reed, Dickinson, Mifflin, McKean, Snyder, Wolf, Ritner, Porter, Shunk, Johnston, Bigler, Pollock, Packer, Curtin, Geary, Hartranft, and Pattison. There is also a street named Moore in South Philadelphia, but not in the appropriate place in the series, and a street named Franklin running north-south. A similar series of streets named for List of counties in Pennsylvania exists in North Philadelphia. In addition, many of these surnames are used for residence halls at The Pennsylvania State University, particularly in East Halls (see: [1]).

See also

*State Capitol of Pennsylvania
*List of Lieutenant Governors of Colonial Pennsylvania