Biography

09/16/1870 - 03/28/1928

Governor William Cameron Sproul (R9) Delaware County 1897-1919

Early Life: 

William Cameron Sproul, born September 16, 1870, Andrew’s Bridge, Lancaster County (i), Pennsylvania; son of  William Hall Sproul and Deborah Dickinson Slokum; relocated, Chester, Pennsylvania, 1883; Chester High School, 1887; Swarthmore College, Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, graduated with honors, (B.A.),1891; printing, newspapers publishing; investments railroads, manufacturing interests, banking shipbuilding, steel casting; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1897-1919, President Pro Tempore, 1903-1905; elected, Republican, 27th Governor of Pennsylvania, 1919-1923; married, Emeline Wallace Roach, two children, daughter, Dorothy Wallace Sproul, son, John Roach Sproul (ii), died, March 21, 1928 (age 57) Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, interment Chester Rural Cemetery, Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, (iii).

Early Career:     

Acquired, Franklin Printing Company of Philadelphia, purchased, Chester Times newspaper, president; Elected, director, First National Bank of Chester, 1895; vice president, Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding and Engine Works 1898, resigned; organized, Seaboard Steel Casting Company, president, 1899.

Elected, president, Chester Shipping Company, 1900; president, Ohio Valley Electric Railway Company, Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad Company, Coal River Railway, Spruce River Coal Land Company of West Virginia and General Refractories Company; Director, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad Company, First National Bank of Chester, Delaware County Trust and Title Insurance Company, the Commercial Trust Company of Philadelphia and American Railways Company; director, Pennsylvania Training School Feeble Minded Children; trustee, Swarthmore College.

Professional titles; business ownership; board memberships; local government; club memberships:

Member, Union League, University Club, Corinthian Yacht Club of Philadelphia, Manhattan Engineers’ Club of New York.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Republican Pennsylvania State Senate, 9^th district, Delaware County, 1897-1919, president pro tempore, 1903-1905; Chair, Finance Committee, member Appropriations, Congressional Reapportionment, Corporations, Elections, Executive Nominations, Judicial General, Public Road and Highways and Railway Committees. Drafted the landmark Sproul Road Bill, which created the state highway system 1911; served twenty-two consecutive years in the Pennsylvania State Senate, resigned, January 20, 1919.

Elected, Republican, 27th Governor of Pennsylvania, 1919-1923.  

Chair, National Governors Association, 1919-1922.

Political Career:

Elected, 27th Governor of Pennsylvania, 1919-1923, (iv) focused on expanding funding, education, roadway construction, and veterans' services, replenish the state's woodlands after years of depletion by lumber companies, was to plant one tree for each Pennsylvania World War I casualty energized a huge reforestation project, culminating with Sproul State Forest, Clinton County. 

Candidate, Republican presidential nomination, 1920; Declined, nomination, vice president with Warren Harding. Chaired, bi-state construction committee, Benjamin Franklin Bridge, Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey, 1926.

Legacy:

Once a millionaire, he died intestate, dispensed his entire fortune, to Quaker charities. (iii)

Awarded, honorary Doctor of Law Degree, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1912. (iii)

The following, named in his honor:

1. Sproul Hall, a Penn State University residence hall built, 1966. 
2. Governor Sproul Apartments, Broomall, Pennsylvania
3. Sproul Estates, a residential development, Wallingford, Pennsylvania, built on the site of his former residence
4. Sproul State Forest, Clinton and Centre counties.
5. Sproul Road, which parallels much of PA Route 320 in between Wayne, Radnor and Marple Townships.
6. Sproul Observatory, Swarthmore College, Telescope, one of the largest in the east.

Cited:

Miller, H.P., (Compiler). Baker, W.H., (Assistant Compiler). Smull’s Legislative Hand Book, (1918) Commwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 1064 and 1084 Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 1097.                                                                                                            .

1. John Douglass House, built 1769, remolded 1815, restored 2007, also known as the Governor Sproul Birthplace, located, Colerain Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. National Register of Historic Places, 1990.
2. When son, John Roach Sproul (1894–1949) married Hazel Bronson Hatfield, daughter of the 14^th Governor of West Virginia Henry D. Hatfield, who, he himself just happened to be the nephew to, Devil Anse Hatfield, leader of the Hatfield clan.
3. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7773823/william-cameron-sproul
4. Former Senate President pro tempore Edward E. Beidleman, Lieutenant Governor. Two former President pro tempores, one Governor, one Lieutenant Governor.