William Couch

Mayor of Oklahoma City

William Lewis Couch (November 20, 1850 – April 21, 1890), a native of North Carolina and later a resident of Kansas, was best known as a leader of the Boomer Movement and as the first provisional mayor of what became Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

He joined the Boomer Movement in 1880 and became the sole leader of the movement after David L.Payne's death on November 28, 1884.

He participated in the Oklahoma Land Run on April 22, 1889, and was elected provisional mayor soon thereafter on April 26, 1889.He remained mayor until November 11, 1889.

On April 4, 1890, he was shot by J.C.Adams in a dispute over his homestead claim, and died on April 21, 1890.