John C. B. Ehringhaus Explained

Birth Name:John Christoph Blucher Ehringhaus
Order1:58th Governor of North Carolina
Term Start1:January 5, 1933
Term End1:January 7, 1937
Lieutenant1:Alexander H. Graham
Predecessor1:Oliver Max Gardner
Successor1:Clyde R. Hoey
Office2:Member of the
North Carolina House of Representatives
from Pasquotank County[1] [2]
Term Start2:1905
Term End2:1909
Predecessor2:W.M. Hinton[3]
Successor2:Seth M. Morgan[4]
Birth Date:5 February 1882
Birth Place:Elizabeth City, North Carolina, U.S.
Death Place:Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.
Party:Democratic
Spouse:Matilda Haughton
Children:3
Profession:Lawyer, politician, farmer
Alma Mater:University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (AB, LLB)

John Christoph Blucher Ehringhaus (February 5, 1882July 31, 1949) was an American politician who served as the 58th governor of North Carolina, serving from 1933 to 1937.

Biography

He was born on February 5, 1882, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He was a descendent of German immigrant Johann Christoph Ehringhaus, who arrived in North Carolina in the early nineteenth-century and opened a bank in Elizabeth City.[5] The Ehringhaus family remained involved in banking and law in Elizabeth City for generations.[5]

Ehringhaus attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was a member of the Philanthropic society of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies from 1898 to 1902.[6]

Ehringhaus was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE), Elizabeth City Lodge #856. He served as District Deputy Grand Exalted Ruler for the North Carolina East District of the BPOE, 1909-1910.

Governor O. Max Gardner coaxed Ehringhaus, a former state legislator and attorney, out of political retirement as his hand-picked successor. He narrowly defeated Lieutenant Governor Richard T. Fountain in a Democratic primary runoff. Fountain claimed Ehringhaus was the tool of business interests.[7]

Serving the state during the Great Depression, Ehringhaus encouraged the North Carolina General Assembly to create a state agency that would help rural areas of the state receive electricity services in order to revive the lagging economy.[8] He also cut state spending, successfully pushed for a three-cent sales tax, extended the school year and kept the schools open and solvent.[9]

He appointed former North Carolinian first lady Cora Lily Woodard Aycock as the President of the North Carolina Railroad.[10]

He died on July 31, 1949.

Legacy

Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest "My name is pronounced as if spelled ear'en-house."[11]

A dormitory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ehringhaus' alma mater (class of 1902) is named in his honor,[12] and the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, of which Ehringhaus was a member, maintains a portrait in his honor.

The second longest bridge in the state of North Carolina, a 3.5-mile stretch over the Albemarle Sound, is named in honor of this former governor.[13]

Ehringhaus' grave is located in the historic Episcopal Cemetery in his hometown of Elizabeth City in Northeastern North Carolina, and the city's main thoroughfare, Ehringhaus Street, is named in his honor.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: North Carolina State House of Representatives - 1905.
  2. Web site: North Carolina State House of Representatives - 1907-1908. www.carolana.com.
  3. Web site: North Carolina State House of Representatives - 1903.
  4. Web site: North Carolina State House of Representatives - 1909.
  5. Web site: The Ehringhauses. A German-American Family in North Carolina. Chris Klasing. 2003. usgwarchives.net. 3 March 2024.
  6. Web site: North Carolina manual [serial]. 1916 .
  7. Christensen, Rob. The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics. 2008: UNC Press. p. 77.
  8. http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/HS/HBStudyGuide06.pdf North Carolina Historic Sites
  9. Christensen. p. 89.
  10. Web site: Aycock, Cora Lily Woodard . NCpedia . 2023-03-20.
  11. [Charles Earle Funk]
  12. Web site: Ehringhaus - UNC Housing. May 5, 2020 .
  13. Web site: North Carolina Museum of History. https://web.archive.org/web/20110727114434/http://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/collateral/articles/s05.who.did.that.sign.say.pdf. dead. July 27, 2011.