Misplaced Pages

William Cameron Sproul
Sproul in 1918
27th Governor of Pennsylvania
In office January 21, 1919 – January 16, 1923
Lieutenant	Edward Beidleman
Preceded by	Martin Brumbaugh
Succeeded by	Gifford Pinchot
Member of the Pennsylvania Senate from the 9th district
In office 1897–1919
Preceded by	Jesse Matlack Baker
Succeeded by	Richard J. Baldwin
Chair of the National Governors Association
In office August 18, 1919 – December 14, 1922
Preceded by	Henry Justin Allen
Succeeded by	Channing H. Cox
Personal details
Born	Emerson Columbus Harrington (1870-09-16)September 16, 1870 Colerain Township, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	March 21, 1928(1928-03-21) (aged 57) Wallingford, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Education	Swarthmore College (BA)
Signature

William Cameron Sproul (September 16, 1870 – March 21, 1928) was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1897 to 1919 and as the 27th governor of Pennsylvania from 1919 to 1923. He also served as chair of the National Governors Association from 1919 to 1922.

Early life and education

Sproul was born at John Douglass House to William Hall and Deborah Dickinson (Slokom) Sproul in Colerain Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on September 16, 1870. The family relocated to Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1883, and Sproul graduated from Chester High School in 1887. He attended Swarthmore College, was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and graduated with honors in 1891.

Business career

After graduation, Sproul acquired an interest in the Franklin Printing Company of Philadelphia. Sproul later purchased a half interest in the Chester Times newspaper.

Sproul was employed in the field of newspaper publishing, and rose to the rank of president of the Chester Daily Times. Additionally, he made a substantial profit through investments in railroads and manufacturing interests.

In 1895, Sproul was elected a director of the First National Bank of Chester.

In 1898, he became vice president of the Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding and Engine Works but resigned a year later when he organized the Seaboard Steel Casting Company and served as president.

In 1900, he was elected president of the Chester Shipping Company. He was president of the Ohio Valley Electric Railway Company, the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railroad Company and of the General Refractories Company. He was director of the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad Company, the Delaware County Trust and Title Insurance Company, the Commercial Trust Company of Philadelphia and the American Railways Company.

Political career

A prominent Republican, Sproul served in the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 9th District from 1897 to 1919. At age 26, he was the youngest member of the senate and the youngest man to become senator from Delaware County. In 1911, he drafted the landmark Sproul Road Bill, which created the state highway system.

In 1918, Sproul was elected as the 27th Governor of Pennsylvania and served until 1923. As governor, he focused on expanding funding for education, roadway construction, and veterans' services. He also spurred an effort to expand state forest land in order to replenish the state's woodlands after years of depletion by lumber companies.

Sproul was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1920. He was later offered the nomination for vice president on a ticket with Warren Harding, but he declined. In 1926, Sproul chaired the bi-state committee that organized the construction of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge between Philadelphia and Camden.

During his political career, Sproul was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

Personal life

On January 21, 1892, Sproul married Emeline Wallace Roach, the daughter of shipbuilder John Roach. They had two children, Dorothy Wallace Sproul (1892–1931) and John Roach Sproul (1894–1949), who married Henry D. Hatfield's daughter, Hazel Bronson Hatfield.

Although Sproul was a millionaire, he died intestate on March 21, 1928. He is interred at the Chester Rural Cemetery in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Legacy

His birthplace is known as the John Douglass House and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

The following are named in his honor:

• Sproul Hall, a Penn State University residence hall built in 1966
• Governor Sproul Apartments in Broomall, Pennsylvania
• Sproul Estates, a residential development in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, built on the site of his former residence
• Sproul State Forest in Clinton and Centre counties
• Sproul Road, which parallels much of PA Route 320 in between Wayne, Radnor and Marple
• Sproul Observatory at Swarthmore College

References

1. "William Cameron Sproul". www.legis.state.pa.us. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
2. ^ "William C. Sproul, Ex-Governor, Dies. Former Pennsylvania Executive Succumbs at 57 After Illness of Several Months. Began Life As Farmer Boy. After College He Bought Interest in a Newspaper, but Later Took Up Financial Interests". New York Times. March 22, 1928. Retrieved December 27, 2013. William Cameron Sproul, former Governor of Pennsylvania, three times President of the Union League of Philadelphia and a nationally known figure in Republican politics, died at his home, Lapidea Manor, near Chester, shortly before 10 o'clock tonight ....
3. ^ Ashmead, Henry Graham (1914). History of the Delaware County National Bank. Chester, Pennsylvania: Press of the Chester Times. p. 159. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
4. ^ Ashmead, Henry Graham (1914). History of the Delaware County National Bank. Chester, Pennsylvania: Press of the Chester Times. p. 159. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
5. Jordan, John W. (1914). A History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania and Its People. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 515–516. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
6. "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
7. ^ "Governor William Cameron Sproul". www.phmc.state.pa.us. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
8. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
9. "Sproul Hall". www.housing.psu.edu. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
10. "Wallingford PA Community Spotlight - Sproul Estates". www.wallingfordpahomes.com. Retrieved August 12, 2018.

• PHMC: William Cameron Sproul biography
• Pennsylvania Governors Past to Present: Governor William Cameron Sproul

External links

• Works by or about William Cameron Sproul at the Internet Archive

v t e Governors and presidents of Pennsylvania
Presidents (1777–1790)	Wharton Bryan Reed Moore Dickinson Franklin Mifflin
Governors (since 1790)	Mifflin McKean Snyder Findlay Hiester Shulze G. Wolf Ritner Porter Shunk Johnston Bigler Pollock Packer Curtin Geary Hartranft Hoyt Pattison Beaver Pattison Hastings Stone Pennypacker Stuart Tener Brumbaugh Sproul Pinchot Fisher Pinchot Earle James Martin Bell Duff Fine Leader Lawrence Scranton Shafer Shapp Thornburgh Casey Ridge Schweiker Rendell Corbett T. Wolf Shapiro

• 1870 births
• 1928 deaths
• Burials at Chester Rural Cemetery
• Chester High School alumni
• Republican Party governors of Pennsylvania
• Republican Party Pennsylvania state senators
• Politicians from Delaware County, Pennsylvania
• Politicians from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
• Quakers from Pennsylvania
• Swarthmore College alumni
• Candidates in the 1920 United States presidential election
• Members of the American Philosophical Society
• 19th-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly
• 20th-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly