Francis G. Newlands
Francis G. Newlands | |
---|---|
![]() |
|
United States Senator from Nevada |
|
In office March 4, 1903 – December 24, 1917 |
|
Preceded by | John P. Jones |
Succeeded by | Charles B. Henderson |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Nevada's At-Large district |
|
In office March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1903 |
|
Preceded by | Horace F. Bartine |
Succeeded by | Clarence D. Van Duzer |
Personal details | |
Born | Francis Griffith Newlands August 28, 1846 Natchez, Mississippi |
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Washington, D.C. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Clara Adelaide Sharon, died birthing 4th child in 1882. Second wife: Edith McCallister married 1888 |
Residence | Reno |
Profession | Attorney, Politician |
Francis Griffith Newlands (August 28, 1846 – December 24, 1917) was a United States Representative and Senator from Nevada.[1] A supporter of westward expansion, he helped pass the Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902, which created the Bureau of Reclamation and boosted the agricultural industry by building dams to support irrigation in the arid Western states.[2] Newlands also founded the neighborhoods of Chevy Chase, Washington, D.C.; and Chevy Chase, Maryland.[3]
An avowed white supremacist,[4][5][6] Senator Newlands argued publicly for racial restrictions on immigration and repealing the 15th Amendment.[2][7][8]
Contents
Early life
Newlands was born in Natchez, Mississippi, on August 28, 1846, to Jessie and James Newlands, immigrants from Scotland. Sources vary as to whether Newlands was born in 1846 or 1848.[8][9][10] Newlands was the fourth of five children. His father, trained as a physician in Edinburgh, died in 1851.[8] Newlands was raised in Illinois and Washington, D.C.[9]
In 1867, he went to Yale University. In 1869, he graduated from Columbian College, which is now George Washington University Law School.[11] He was admitted to the bar in 1869.[8][12] In 1901, he received an honorary M.A. degree.[11]
Career
In 1870, Newlands moved to San Francisco, California. He married Clara Adelaide Sharon, the daughter of Nevada senator William Sharon, in 1874.[8][10] They had three daughters.[9] Newlands helped William Sharon to reopen the Bank of California, and supervised the management of the Palace Hotel, San Francisco.[8] When Newlands’ wife died, he inherited the Sharon estate.[9] Newlands married Edith McAllister and moved to Nevada in 1888.[13]
Land developer
In the late 1880s, Newlands and his partners began to acquire farmland in northwestern Washington, D.C., and southern Montgomery County, Maryland, in order to develop a residential streetcar suburb for the nation's capital. On June 23, 1888, Newlands chartered the Rock Creek Railway for a single-track streetcar.[14] Newlands and his partners purchased over 1,700 acres and formed the Chevy Chase Land Company in 1890.[15][16] Between 1890 and 1892, the Land Company built two bridges, constructed five miles of road, and laid streetcar tracks along the road.[15] The Rock Creek Railway opened in 1892.[16]
Newlands created the Chevy Chase Springs Hotel (later the Chevy Chase School for Girls, now the 4-H Youth Conference Center), and a lake which powered an electric generating plant for the railway. Chevy Chase Lake was created by damming Coquelin Run. In 1894, an amusement park was created on the lake. Newlands ensured the community included schools, churches, country clubs, an infrastructure featuring tree-lined streets, a water supply and a sewage system. Groceries and daily purchases were brought from Washington, D.C., on the railway at no charge to residents.[16]
In 1893, Newlands began to subdivide the San Francisco property in Burlingame, California, he inherited, beginning with the Burlingame Country Club and five cottages. The following year, he added the Burlingame train station.[17][18]
U.S. Representative
Newlands, a Democrat, represented Nevada in the United States House of Representatives from 1893 to 1903. In 1898, he created the Newlands Resolution, which annexed the Republic of Hawaii, creating a new territory.[9] He supported a greater federal role in conservation and pushed for federal funding of western arid land irrigation projects.[9][19] He helped pass the Reclamation Act of 1902, also called the Newlands Act, which created what would become the Bureau of Reclamation.[9]
U.S. Senator
Newlands entered the United States Senate in 1903. He supported the protection of the National Forests under the United States Forest Service in 1905, and the creation of the National Park Service in 1916.[9] He was a member of the Senate subcommittee that investigated the 1912 sinking of RMS Titanic.[20] In 1916, he was the only Democratic senator to vote against the nomination of Louis Brandeis to the U.S. Supreme Court.[21] He served until his death in Washington, D.C., on December 24, 1917. He died of heart failure in his home.[22]
Legacy
Newlands held white supremacist beliefs and spoke publicly in favor of restricting the rights of African-Americans.[7][23][24]
The Francis Griffith Newlands Memorial Fountain in Chevy Chase Circle, a federal park that divides D.C. and Maryland, honors his achievements in irrigation. In 2014, a member of the Chevy Chase advisory neighborhood commission proposed a resolution calling for the removal of Newlands’ name from the fountain because of his views on race. Others believe that Chevy Chase should not alter the monument because the change would belittle Newlands' legislative accomplishments.[25][26]
Newlands' former mansion in Reno is one of six properties in Nevada designated as a National Historic Landmark.[27] Many notable people, including Barbara Hutton in 1935, stayed at the house while waiting for their divorce paperwork to be finalized by George Thatcher, a local divorce lawyer who purchased the home in 1920.
See also
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Cite error: Invalid <references>
tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.
<references />
, or <references group="..." />
External links
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
United States House of Representatives | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Nevada's at-large congressional district 1893–1903 |
Succeeded by Clarence D. Van Duzer |
United States Senate | ||
Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Nevada 1903–1917 Served alongside: William M. Stewart, George S. Nixon, William A. Massey, Key Pittman |
Succeeded by Charles B. Henderson |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by
Moses E. Clapp
Minnesota |
Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce 1913–1917 |
Succeeded by Ellison D. Smith South Carolina |
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ NPS: Newlands
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Atwood, Albert W. Francis G. Newlands: A Builder of the Nation. 1969
- ↑ Daily Alta California, Volume 42, Number 14249, 9 September 1888
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Titanic Inquiry Project
- ↑ Confirm Brandeis by Vote of 47 to 22, The New York Times, June 2, 1916
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Fisher, Marc. "Chevy Chase, 1916: For Everyman, a New Lot in Life," Washington Post, February 15, 1999
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. This pamphlet, consisting mostly of a transcript of a speech by Gary, includes an extract of a statement given by Newlands on February 7, 1909, to the Washington Post that includes the "race of children" assertion.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Pages with reference errors
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- 1846 births
- 1917 deaths
- Nevada lawyers
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from Nevada
- People from Natchez, Mississippi
- Politicians from Reno, Nevada
- United States Senators from Nevada
- Yale University alumni
- George Washington University Law School alumni
- Democratic Party United States Senators
- Nevada Democrats
- Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives
- Silver Party members of the United States House of Representatives
- Nevada Silverites
- 19th-century American politicians