User:FredModulars/Junta of 1930

Albert Waller Gilchrist (January 15, 1858 – May 15, 1926) was an American politician who served as the 20th governor of Florida. A Democrat, Gilchrist was born in South Carolina before moving to Punta Gorda, Florida. He was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1893 and served as speaker in 1905. Gilchrist is the namesake for Gilchrist County, Florida.

Born in Greenwood, South Carolina,^[1] Gilchrist first attended Carolina Military Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity before attending the United States Military Academy at West Point. He would have graduated in 1882, but he did not because he was deficient in experimental philosophy after three years.^[2]

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Gilchrist became a civil engineer and real estate dealer before settling in Punta Gorda, Florida, to become an orange grower. He served in the Florida state militia until 1898, reaching the rank of brigadier general. Gilchrist went on to join the Company C, of the 3rd U.S. Volunteer Infantry, and served in the U.S. Army during the Spanish–American War in Cuba.^[1] He reached the rank of captain in the regular army, before being discharged in 1899.^[2] - did not do anything

In 1893, Gilchrist was elected to the Florida House of Representatives, serving until 1897. He represented DeSoto County, Florida. He returned in 1903, and in 1905 he became Speaker of the Florida House and left the legislature.^[3][1]

Gilchrist was elected governor on November 3, 1908, taking the oath of office on January 5, 1909.^[1] As governor, by law, Gilchrist was chairman of the Board of Commissioners of State Institutions (the Board's prerogatives included oversight of Florida's prisons and mental health hospitals), the Board of Pardons, and the State Board of Education among others.^[4] Gilchrist prioritized public health.^[2] For instance, he promoted legislation for a pure food law, improved health conditions for state prisoners, a tuberculosis sanitarium, and a "hospital for impoverished crippled children."^[1]

Also during his tenure as Governor, the Monteverde Industrial School was established, new counties were formed, and, following eight years of work, mainland Florida was finally connected to the Florida Keys via an overseas railroad.^[1]

Despite its passage of both chambers of the Florida Legislature with tremendous support, Gilchrist vetoed a bill to allow convict leasing. Though Florida lacked money and equipment for the care of its 1,600 prisoners, Gilchrist instead opted to purchase and improve a 17,000 acre prison farm. Additionally, the veto was not overridden.^[5] In reflecting on Gilchrist's decision, the Tampa Times stated:^[5]

It is said that had following administrations been as attentive to prison needs and requirements unscrupulous contractors with their Higginbothams and other whipping bosses would never have been given the opportunity to blacken the name of Florida as was done two years ago when the entire nation was stirred over the beating to death of Martin Tabert in a sawmill convict camp.

Gilchrist vetoed a bill to give Joseph Gilmer, an eighty-year-old former factory superintendent during the American Civil War, a pension on account of his inability to procure work as he had become blind and weak and the importance of his factory's products to the Confederate cause.^[6] In his veto, he recommended pensions be given to all those who provided goods to the Confederacy.^[6]

Gilchrist left office on January 7, 1913,^[2] succeeded by another Democrat, Park Trammell.^[7] Gilchrist unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 1916. Later on, he served as a delegate to the 1924 Democratic National Convention.^[1] As a delegate, he made accusations that another Florida delegate, William Jennings Bryan, was trying to achieve the presidential nomination, citing Bryan's speeches calling for a dry and progressive candidate and how Bryan met those attributes.^[8] Gilchrist fought Bryan on prohibition when Gilchrist introduced a resolution that the Florida delegation would not support prohibition. Bryan, alongside other delegates, disfavored the resolution; it was rejected, and Bryan called Gilchrist and Thomas J. Appleyard, the resolution's only supporters, "wets."^[9]

Gilchrist never married.^[5] While he was governor and attending a governors' conference in Richmond, Virginia, Gilchrist was the only person to stand when Richmond's mayor asked if there was any "real Governor of his State, whose wife does not rule instead of he."^[7] Gilchrist died on May 15, 1926, in New York, New York. Upon his death, the Governor left a large portion of his estate to local orphans, and \waas . He is buried at Indian Springs Cemetery on Indian Springs Road in Punta Gorda, Florida.^[1][5]

After hearing that the former Governor was dying in a New York hospital, the Florida Legislature quickly introduced and passed a bill naming Gilchrist County after him. The Gilchrist Bridge, which carries U.S. Route 41 south over the Peace River from Port Charlotte to Punta Gorda, is named after Gilchrist.^[10]

In 2020, Teddy Ehmann, president of the Charlotte County Historical Society, urged the Punta Gorda City Council to rename Gilchrist Park, of which Gilchrist was the namesake for. In his letter to the council, Ehmann called Gilchrist a "Southern racist" and asked the council to recognize the indigenous Calusa tribe.^[11]

Theresa Murtha, director of the Punta Gorda History Center, called the proposal "outrageous". She pointed out Gilchrist's legacy as the only Governor of Florida from Punta Gorda, as well as his role in the foundation of the city.^[11] Former cataloger Lynn Harrell claimed Gilchrist hired a crew of seven to eight black railroad employees, adding that "he wouldn’t have had a Black crew” if he was a racist.^[11]

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