William Henry Gleason
Encyclopedia
William Henry Gleason was an American politician from Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. He was Florida's second Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant Governor of Florida
The Lieutenant Governor of Florida is a statewide elected office in the government of the U.S. state of Florida. According to the Florida Constitution, the lieutenant governor is elected to a four-year term congruent with that of the Governor of Florida, and succeeds to the office of Governor if it...

 and was very briefly, acting Governor.

Early life

William Henry Gleason was born in 1829 in New York. He had an early interest in engineering, banking, law and politics. In 1853 he became a member of the Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....

 society at Yale. In 1855 he opened a bank and began to develop the town of Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Eau Claire is a city located in the west-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 65,883 as of the 2010 census, making it the largest municipality in the northwestern portion of the state, and the 9th largest in the state overall. It is the county seat of Eau Claire County,...

. In 1858 he married Sara Griffin from New York. Gleason learned from his banking experience and moved into sales during the Civil War.

This issue of slavery was an interest of Gleason, and having made a name for himself in this cause, he was appointed a special agent of the Freeman's Bureau in 1865. His mission was to scout the Florida peninsula as a possible site for a Negro colony. The idea of colonization did not appeal to Gleason. His recommendation against a Negro colony in Florida garnered local political support in future years.

Having toured the state for several months, Gleason was one of the first post-war visitors to realize the great potential for business. He rented a schooner and moved his family to the old military post, Fort Dallas, in 1866 (near present-day Miami). This was a time a great transition in Florida. Gleason sought investment land under control of the state's Trustee's of the Internal Improvement
Internal improvements
Internal improvements is the term used historically in the United States for public works from the end of the American Revolution through much of the 19th century, mainly for the creation of a transportation infrastructure: roads, turnpikes, canals, harbors and navigation improvements...

 Fund and proposed to ditch and drain land in exchange for bargain rates on nearby real estate. The board originated in Congress with the 1850 Internal Improvement Act that granted certain swamp and overflow lands to the states. Florida received millions of acres, and not all was swamp. The mission of the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund was to work with private companies to improve the state. Developers like Gleason were allowed to purchase 640 acres (2.6 km²) of state land for $40 in consideration for every 50000 cubic feet (1,415.8 m³) of ditching completed. This amounted to just over six cents per acre and provided an 800% return on investment if the land could be resold at fifty cents per acre.

In 1875 Gleason became interested in a canal project to connect Indian River with Lake Washington. He proposed to rechannel and deepen Eau Gallie's Elbow Creek and extend the waterway to Lake Washington. The state's payment for this work was set at $4000 plus 4000 acres (16.2 km²) for every mile (10 km² per km) of canal constructed. This project never materialized, however a drainage canal was cut (the Hopkins ditch)along this route, named after its promoter George W. Hopkins
George W. Hopkins
George W. Hopkins was a lumberman involved in the removal of tens of thousands of acres of virgin forests in Michigan and Florida.Hopkins was born in 1844 in Virginia. His father soon moved his family to Michigan in search of farm land. Hopkins became a surveyor and map maker at a young age, and...

.

Politics

During the late 1860s and 1870s, Gleason traveled between his Fort Dallas residence and Tallahassee, seeking business and political connections. As a consequence of this and a few powerful Republican friends, on July 7, 1868, he was sworn in as the state's second lieutenant governor. During an attempted impeachment of Governor Harrison Reed, Gleason claimed the Governorship. The Senate had adjourned on without November 7, 1868 without deciding whether or not to impeach Reed. Reed's supporters, including the state's Adjutant General and the county Sheriff, kept him out of the Capitol. He set up in a hotel and signed documents as Governor. The Supreme Court sided with Governor Reed, and the political struggle ended with his removal from office as Lieutenant Governor December 14, 1868.

Traveling along Florida's coast, Gleason passed many charming harbors. He liked one such area so much that he purchased most of it (16,000 acres (65 km²)) at $1.25 an acre and named it Eau Gallie. This was the site of Arlington, founded by John C. Houston. Gleason prepared a plat of his new land, which encompassed the entire area from Indian River Lagoon to Lake Washington, approximately thirty square miles. William Lee Apthorp's 1877 Standard Map of Florida shows Eau Gallie in large capital letters, incorrectly designating Gleason's land as the county seat of Brevard County. Part of Gleason's land eventually because the city of Eau Gallie, Florida
Eau Gallie, Florida
Eau Gallie was a city in Brevard County, Florida from 1857 until 1969 when citizens voted to merge with neighboring Melbourne, Florida. It is now a small district in the north part of the city, near the Eau Gallie Causeway. William Henry Gleason founded the city. From 1874 to 1878 it served as the...

 and later north Melbourne

Post Civil War

In 1871 Gleason proposed the idea of the state's first Agricultural College to be located in Eau Gallie. Gleason offered a 2320 acres (9.4 km²) donation of intermittent swamp lands east of Lake Washington to the Trustees of the Florida Agricultural College if they would select Eau Gallie as the school's campus. Records indicate that Gleason later received $100 from the state for two Eau Gallie lots to be used as sites for college building. The site was approved and the two-story coquina building was completed in 1875, but it was never used for its intended purpose.

Remnants of the old campus are located off of present day Pineapple Avenue (formerly part of U.S. 1
U.S. Route 1 in Florida
U.S. Route 1 in Florida runs along the state's east coast from Key West to its crossing of the St. Marys River into Georgia north of Boulogne, and south of Folkston. US 1 was designated through Florida when the U.S. Highway System was established in 1926.US 1 runs in the state of Florida, and...

) , north of Eau Gallie Boulevard. The college reemerged in the north Florida town of Lake City under Democratic leadership during 1884.

Sensing legal difficulties in Dade county, Gleason moved his wife and two teenage sons to the unused campus of Eau Gallie’s Agricultural College during 1882 and 1883. He immediately begin a sawmill and boat building business. The Gleasons' took control of the old college building, living there until they became established. By 1884, Henry and Sara had recorded their village plat of Eau Gallie and began selling lots in their new town.

The Florida State Agricultural College filed to foreclose on Gleason's claim to the vacant college building. After several years of litigation, the Trustees of the college were able to negotiate a settlement. Gleason's "donated" west Eau Gallie land was returned to him and, in exchange, the governor agreed to pay $2000 for the small college building and campus. Gleason and his sons converted the building into the prosperous Hotel Granada during the 1890s. It served the typical tourists of the day, sportsmen seeking fish and game. The two-story coquina hotel was destroyed by fire in 1902. The charred building symbolized the end of an era which coincided with the death of the Lt. Governor the same year.
William Gleason's grandson William Lansing Gleason
William Lansing Gleason
William Lansing Gleason was the son of William Henry Gleason. His grandfather is William Henry Gleason, the founder of Eau Gallie, Florida. William Lansing Gleason co-founded Indian Harbour Beach, Florida on June 6, 1955...

 co-founded Indian Harbour Beach, Florida
Indian Harbour Beach, Florida
Indian Harbour Beach is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,152 at the 2000 census. As of 2005, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 8,441...

 on June 6, 1955.

External references

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