Lawrence Lewis Jr. (1918-1995) was an American businessman, hotelier, philanthropist, and benefactor remembered for his role in founding Flagler College.
Lawrence Lewis Jr. was born on July 6, 1918, in Wilmington, North Carolina, to Louise Wise Lewis Francis and Lawrence Lewis Sr. When Lewis was an infant, his family moved to St. Augustine, Florida, and lived at Kirkside, Henry Flagler’s former home, which Lewis’s mother had inherited as Flagler’s niece. [1]
Lewis attended Woodberry Forest School in Orange, Virginia, and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He studied architecture and was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity and secret society Eli Banana. He withdrew from college in 1941 and enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was initially stationed at Fort Hood in Texas and actively served in Italy where he was wounded. He received three battle stars and two Purple Hearts for his service.
After the war, Lewis followed in his great-uncle’s footsteps, opening his own set of hotels. He owned Club Peace and Plenty in Exuma, Bahamas [2] as well as the Runner Hotel in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. [3] He served as the executive Vice President and Director of Flagler Systems, Inc., the product of a merger between the Florida East Coast Hotel Company and the Model Land Company. [4] Flagler Systems owned and operated several hotels in Florida, including the Hotel Ponce de Leon (often called The Ponce) and the Ponce de Leon Motor Lodge [5] in St. Augustine and the Breakers in Palm Beach. [6]
In 1968 administrators at Mount Ida College in Newton, Massachusetts, approached Lewis about buying the Hotel Ponce de Leon to open a women’s college in St. Augustine; Lewis agreed to the sale on the condition that the school be called Flagler College. [7] The first iteration of the college failed, but was reorganized with Lewis's assistance as a co-ed college in 1971. In 2018, Flagler College celebrated its 50th anniversary. [8]
Lewis and his sister Mary Lily Flagler "Molly" Lewis Wiley funded much of the renovation cost to make the Ponce suitable for collegiate life, totaling close to $14 million, with their own money. [9] Additional significant funding was provided through the Flagler Foundation and the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust. [1]
The Lewis family continued to provide financial support to the college after his initial gift. Their donations funded the renovation of nearby houses connected historically to the Hotel Ponce de Leon. They became administrative offices. Lewis funded construction of the college's gymnasium, auditorium, tennis center, a men's residence hall, and the William L. Proctor Library, as well as a number of student scholarships and endowments. [10] He also served as the Chairman of the college's Board of Trustees for twenty years. [11]
Lewis was married to Janet Patton for 55 years, and they had three daughters: Louise, Janet, and Kenan. [12] Two of his grandsons graduated from Flagler College. [13]
Lewis served as a trustee on a number of boards including the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board, the St. Augustine Foundation, Inc., the Florida Publishing Company, the Exchange Bank of St. Augustine, the Virginia Historical Society, the Virginia Museum, the Richmond Memorial Hospital, United Virginia Bank, Piedmont Airlines, Florida Independent College Fund, St. Catherine's School, Woodberry Forest, the Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia, the Colgate Darden Graduate Business School, and the UVA Endowment Fund. [14]
Lewis was the recipient of many honors throughout his lifetime, including honorary degrees from Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Florida, and Flagler College. He also received the Order of La Florida from the City of St. Augustine, [15] the Florida Distinguished Service Medal, the National Trust Preservation Award, and an honorary membership in the American Institute of Architects. [16]
Lewis died on April 3, 1995, at his home in Richmond, Virginia, at the age of 76. [17] He was honored posthumously by the State of Florida as a Great Floridian in 2000. Lewis Auditorium and Lewis House at Flagler College are named in his honor. [18] The Lewis Chair of Architecture at the University of Virginia and the Lawrence Lewis Jr. Park in Charles City, Virginia, also bear his name. [19]
St. Augustine is a city in and the county seat of St. Johns County located 40 miles south of downtown Jacksonville. The city is on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, it is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in what is now the contiguous United States.
Flagler College is a private liberal arts college in St. Augustine, Florida. It was founded in 1968 and offers 37 undergraduate majors and two master's programs. It also has a campus in Tallahassee.
Henry Morrison Flagler was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founder of the Florida East Coast Railway. He is also known as a founder of the cities of Miami and Palm Beach, Florida.
Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings, was one of the outstanding American Beaux-Arts architecture firms. Located in New York City, the firm practiced from 1885 until 1929, although Carrère died in an automobile accident in 1911.
The Lightner Museum is a museum of antiques, mostly American Gilded Age pieces, housed within the historic Hotel Alcazar building in downtown St. Augustine. This 1887 Spanish Renaissance Revival style building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Thomas Hastings was an American architect, a partner in the firm of Carrère and Hastings.
The Casa Monica Hotel is a historic hotel located in St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States. It was originally named Casa Monica, then Cordova Hotel, then Alcazar Annex, and now has its original name again. The Casa Monica Hotel is one of the oldest hotels in the United States and is a member of the Historic Hotels of America in the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The Hotel Ponce de Leon, also known as The Ponce, was a luxury hotel in St. Augustine, Florida, built by millionaire developer and Standard Oil co-founder Henry M. Flagler. Built between 1885-1887, the winter resort opened in January 1888. The hotel was designed in the Spanish Renaissance Revival style as the first major project of the New York architecture firm Carrère & Hastings, which gained world renown for more than 600 projects, including the House and Senate Office Buildings flanking the US Capitol. Their final project was the New York Public Library.
Grace United Methodist Church is a historic church donated to the people of St. Augustine, Florida, by American industrialist Henry Morrison Flagler. It is located at 8 Carrera Street. Built within a one-year span, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 1979, for its architectural significance and as an example of community planning.
Markland, also known as the Andrew Anderson House, is a historic mansion in St. Augustine, Florida. It was built in the Greek Revival style of Classical Revival architecture.
The Ormond Hotel was a historic hotel in Ormond Beach, Florida, United States. It was located at 15 East Granada Boulevard.
Weyanoke is a plantation farmstead in Charles City County, Virginia, United States. In 1619, the First Africans in Virginia arrived at the Weyanoke Peninsula. They created the first African community in North America. The Westover Plantation and related archaeological sites were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The St. Augustine movement was a part of the wider Civil Rights Movement, taking place in St. Augustine, Florida from 1963 to 1964. It was a major event in the city's long history and had a role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Memorial Presbyterian Church is a historic church constructed in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1889 by American industrialist Henry Morrison Flagler. It is located at 32 Sevilla Street. It was dedicated to the memory of his daughter Jennie Louise Benedict, who died following complications from childbirth at sea in March 1889.
Andrew Anderson II was an American physician, philanthropist, mayor and benefactor of St. Augustine, Florida. Anderson commissioned multiple works of art to adorn a variety of public spaces in the city of St. Augustine, including the two Medici lion statues placed at the approach to the Bridge of Lions.
UF Health St. Johns is a medical system of the University of Florida established in 1889. Primarily located in unincorporated St. Johns County, Florida, the organization offers "Centers of Excellence" in bariatrics, heart, cancer, maternity, orthopedics and sinus. On September 13, 2023, University of Florida Health announced that it had closed on the acquisition of the Flagler Health+ system and Flagler Hospital would be renamed UF Health Flagler Hospital.
Felix F. de Crano was an impressionist artist in New England, St. Augustine, Florida, and Europe. He is listed as a Great Floridian.
St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the continental United States, was founded in 1565 by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. The Spanish Crown issued an asiento to Menéndez, signed by King Philip II on March 20, 1565, granting him various titles, including that of adelantado of Florida, and expansive privileges to exploit the lands in the vast territory of Spanish Florida, called La Florida by the Spaniards. This contract directed Menéndez to explore the region's Atlantic coast and report on its features, with the object of finding a suitable location to establish a permanent colony from which the Spanish treasure fleet could be defended and Spain's claimed territories in North America protected against incursions by other European powers.
William Johnston "Billy" Armfield IV was an American textile business executive and philanthropist.
John D. Bailey was a civic leader and philanthropist in, and Mayor of, St. Augustine, Florida from 1965 to 1967.