John Mallon papers

John H. Mallon was born in Cincinnati circa 1896, and attended Yale University, graduating in 1920. He moved to Louisville in the early 1920s to work at the Louisville Cement Company, from which he retired in 1961. In World War I, Mallon served as a first lieutenant with the field artillery of the 42nd Division of the Rainbow Division, World War II, he was a civilian aide in the Army Air Corps and a member of the Louisville War Finance Committee.

Mallon was active in civic affairs and public service, and is especially remembered for his work as chair of the bipartisan Local Government Improvement Committee in 1954, which drafted the unsuccessful Mallon Plan for the merger of the Louisville and Jefferson County governments. He also served as chair of fundraising for the Louisville Fund for the Arts in 1952 and as a member of the Louisville Board of Water Works. Mallon was a director of the Louisville Water Company from 1959 to 1964 and 1970 to 1984, and head of the campaign for the Community Chest in 1961. In 1959 Mallon was the Jefferson County chair for the successful campaign of Governor Bert Combs and Lieutenant Governor Wilson Wyatt. The Louisville chapter of the League of Women Voters noted Mallon’s accomplishments with their award for outstanding public service and citizen participation in 1981.

John H. Mallon died February 4, 1984, at the age of 88.

This collection contains files relating to his work on the Local Government Improvement Committee and the unsuccessful “Mallon Plan.” Boxes 1 through 6 contain files on various topics pertinent to Louisville government and civic participation organized in alphabetical order. Boxes 7 through 9 contain drafts and copies of the plan itself, along with accompanying clippings, articles, reports, and other published material. There is a small amount of material dating from the 1960s and 1970s which appears to be related to later city/county merger attempts.