The Wanganui Town Board was first formed in 1862, and its first chairman was J Handley, who served in that capacity until 1864.

[7] Five days later, councillor William Hutchison was elected the second mayor of Wanganui.

[9] Several weeks and many attempted council meetings went by without a new mayor being elected, mostly because some councillors stayed away so that there was no quorum.

[20] Wanganui's most controversial mayor, by far, was well regarded lawyer Charles MacKay who was found guilty of the attempted murder of poet D'Arcy Cresswell – a charge stemming from an attempt to allegedly blackmail Mayor MacKay for homosexual advances.

He was killed in 1929 during riots in Munich, Germany whilst reporting the civil unrest.

The 1983 mayoralty was won by Doug Turney, with Chas Poynter coming second.

[23] In 1989, Poynter increased his majority, defeating challenger John Blaikie by almost 6,000 votes.

In 1992, Poynter was challenged by Wanganui greengrocer Randhir Dahya, a popular Indian businessman.

By 2001, the writing was on the wall, and he regained the mayoralty with just 27% of the vote, warding off four councillor challengers.

In 2004, he stood again and was defeated, polling third behind media personality Michael Laws and businessman John Martin with just 20% of the vote.