Representative Lewis McKenzie

Lewis McKenzie (October 7, 1810 – June 28, 1895) was a nineteenth-century politician, merchant, and railroad president from Virginia who served two terms in the United States House of Representatives. Born in Alexandria, then part of the District of Columbia, he pursued an academic course as a young man before entering commercial life. Establishing himself in shipping and mercantile pursuits, he became a prominent businessman in Alexandria, a growing port and commercial center in the mid-nineteenth century.

Building on his success in trade, McKenzie played a significant role in regional transportation and finance. He founded the Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire Railroad and served as its president, helping to promote rail connections that were vital to the economic development of northern Virginia. In addition to his railroad interests, he was president of the First National Bank in Alexandria, further cementing his position as an influential figure in the city’s commercial and financial affairs.

McKenzie’s civic involvement led him into local politics at an early stage. Initially a member of the Whig Party, he served on the Alexandria County common council from 1843 to 1850. During this period he was instrumental in pressing for the retrocession of Alexandria from the District of Columbia back to Virginia, a process completed in 1846, and he was recognized as having instigated the final push for that change. He later served on the city council of Alexandria from 1855 to 1859, and during the Civil War era he held several important local offices. From 1861 to 1863 he was acting mayor of Alexandria, a strategically significant city under Union occupation, and at various times he served as presiding justice of the magistrate court and as a brigadier general of the town’s militia, reflecting both his judicial responsibilities and his role in local defense and order.

McKenzie’s prominence in local government and his Unionist stance during the Civil War led to his election to the United States House of Representatives. He was elected as a Unionist to fill a vacancy in the Thirty-seventh Congress and served from February to March 1863. He was elected unopposed to this seat, representing the interests of his Virginia constituents during a critical phase of the conflict. After this brief initial service in Congress, he returned to municipal politics, resuming his place on the Alexandria city council and serving there until 1866. He again returned to the council in 1868, serving until 1870, maintaining a continuous presence in local governance during Reconstruction.

McKenzie reentered national politics at the close of the 1860s. As a member of the Conservative Party representing Virginia, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1869 and served in the Forty-first Congress from 1870 to 1871. His congressional service occurred during a significant period in American history, as the nation grappled with Reconstruction, the reintegration of the former Confederate states, and the redefinition of civil and political rights. In this capacity, he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his Virginia constituents in a time of political realignment and sectional tension.

Following his second term in Congress, McKenzie continued to seek public office. In 1870 he ran unsuccessfully as the Republican candidate for Congress, reflecting the fluid party affiliations of the Reconstruction era. In 1874 he ran for the Virginia state senate but was again unsuccessful. Nonetheless, he remained a respected public figure and was appointed postmaster of Alexandria in 1878, a federal position that underscored his continued standing in both local and national circles.

In his later years, McKenzie remained active in Alexandria’s civic life. He returned once more to the city council in 1887 and served until 1891, extending a public career that had begun nearly half a century earlier. He died in Alexandria, Virginia, on June 28, 1895. McKenzie was interred in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Alexandria, leaving a legacy as a merchant, railroad and banking executive, local official, and congressman who played a notable role in the political and economic life of his city and state during the mid- and late nineteenth century.