Alcaeus Hooper was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on January 2, 1859, to Catherine (née Bell) and William E.

[1][2] He was named after Alcaeus of Mytilene, a Greek poet that his parents heard a lecture about.

Hooper was at odds with the City Council about his appointments, and won a lawsuit over it at the state Court of Appeals.

He was charged by the school board president John E. Semmes of being unfit to serve and was brought to trial in front of Mayor J. Barry Mahool.

[6] His New York Times obituary said his 1895 mayoral campaign was "one of the stormiest in the city's history", with Hooper pitted against the Democratic machine run by Isaac Freeman Rasin.