The office of Mayor of Rock Island, Illinois has existed since the Rock Island's incorporation in 1841 with Benjamin Barrett serving as the city's first mayor. Rock Island adopted a Mayor-Council form of government. It held that form of government for the next 110 years when in 1952 the city adopted a new popular form of city government, the council-manager form. Carl F. Bauer was elected as the first mayor under this form in 1953. This form of government still elected a mayor but the mayor is nothing more than a figurehead whereas the true power lay in the hands of the City Council and City Manager.