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Record Group Number: 900000
Series/Collection Number: M86- 1
Creator: Martin, John Wellborn, 1884-1958
Title, Dates: John W. Martin correspondence, 1935-1937.
Amount: 0.25 cubic ft.
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Organization/Arrangement: Chronological.
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Biographical/Historical:     Born in 1884 at Plainfield in Marion County, Florida, John Wellborn Martin became Florida's 24th governor in 1925. Largely self-educated, he was admitted to the bar in 1914 and began practicing law in Jacksonville, where he served as mayor from 1917 until his run for governor in 1924. While governor, Martin presided over a land boom that attracted national attention. During this period, he built highways on a statewide basis, financed public schools by direct state appropriations, and furnished free textbooks to students in the first six grades.

    When Florida began facing economic depression, Martin lost the 1928 Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat, and then lost the nomination for governor in 1932. Beginning in the 1940s he was co-receiver and subsequently trustee of the Florida East Coast Railroad. He died in Jacksonville in 1958.
Summary:     The collection contains correspondence of John W. Martin, former governor of Florida, from 1935 to 1937. Most of the correspondence is with his private secretary, Bessie Porter (Mrs. Arthur Porter), who handled his financial interests in the Northern Investment Corporation of Tallahassee. The letters reflect Martin's involvement in buying and selling of real estate in Florida. They also provide insights into issues and politics of the mid-1930s.
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Subject Access Fields: Real estate development Florida
Florida Politics and government 1865-1950
Added Entries Porter, Bessie.