On October 27, 1877, Kane was elected Mayor of the City of Baltimore having won the Democratic nomination over Ferdinand C. Latrobe, (1833–1911), (grandson of famed architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, (1764–1820), son of civic activist, lawyer artist and author John H. B. Latrobe, and nephew of Benjamin Henry Latrobe II, (1806–1878), noted chief engineer and architect, with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad).
