 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(October 2024) |
| Governor of the Panama Canal Zone | |
|---|---|
| Panama Canal Zone | |
| Seat | Balboa |
| Appointer | President of the United States |
| Constituting instrument | Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty |
| Formation | 14 May 1904 |
| First holder | George Whitefield Davis |
| Final holder | Harold Parfitt |
| Abolished | 30 September 1979 |
This article lists the governors of the Panama Canal Zone between 1904 and 1979, while it was under U.S. control.
| Image | Name (Birth–Death) | Took office | Left office | Notes | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | George Whitefield Davis (1839–1918) | 14 May 1904 | 24 May 1905 | ||
 | Charles Edward Magoon (1861–1920) | 25 May 1905 | 12 October 1906 | ||
 | Richard Reid Rogers (1867–1949) | 19 November 1906 | 31 March 1907 | General Counsel of the Isthmian Canal Commission | |
 | Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn (1838–1918) | 1 April 1907 | 4 December 1909 | ||
 | Maurice Thatcher (1870–1973) | 13 May 1910 | 8 August 1913 | ||
 | Richard Lee Metcalfe (1861–1954) | 9 August 1913 | 31 March 1914 |
| Image | Name (Birth–Death) | Took office | Left office | Notes | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | George Washington Goethals (1858–1928) | 1 April 1914 | 10 January 1917 | First U.S. civil governor appointed by President Woodrow Wilson | [1] |
 | Chester Harding (1866–1936) | 11 January 1917 | 27 March 1921 | [1] | |
 | Jay Johnson Morrow (1870–1937) | 28 March 1921 | 15 October 1924 | [1] |
| Image | Name (Birth–Death) | Took office | Left office | Notes | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Meriwether Lewis Walker (1869–1947) | 16 October 1924 | 15 October 1928 | [1] | |
 | Harry Burgess (1872–1933) | 16 October 1928 | 20 October 1932 | [1] | |
 | Julian Larcombe Schley (1880–1965) | 21 October 1932 | 26 August 1936 | [1] | |
 | Clarence S. Ridley (1883–1969) | 27 August 1936 | 10 July 1940 | [1] | |
 | Glen Edgar Edgerton (1887–1976) | 11 July 1940 | 15 May 1944 | [1] | |
 | Joseph Cowles Mehaffey (1889–1963) | 16 May 1944 | 19 May 1948 | [1] | |
 | Francis K. Newcomer (1889–1967) | 20 May 1948 | 26 May 1952 | [1] | |
 | John States Seybold (1897–1982) | 27 May 1952 | 27 May 1956 | [1] | |
 | William Everett Potter (1905–1988) | 28 May 1956 | 30 June 1960 | [1] | |
| William Arnold Carter (1907–1996) | 1 July 1960 | 31 January 1962 | [1] | ||
 | Robert John Fleming (1907–1984) | 1 February 1962 | 31 January 1967 | [1] | |
| Walter Philip Leber (1918–2009) | 21 February 1967 | 2 March 1971 | [1] | ||
 | David Stuart Parker (1919–1990) | 3 March 1971 | 25 March 1975 | [1] | |
 | Harold Parfitt (1921–2006) | 26 March 1975 | 30 September 1979 | [1] |
The history of Panama includes the history of the Isthmus of Panama prior to European colonization.
The Panama Canal is an artificial 82-kilometer (51-mile) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, cutting across the Isthmus of Panama, and is a conduit for maritime trade. Locks at each end lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial fresh water lake 26 meters (85 ft) above sea level, created by damming up the Chagres River and Lake Alajuela to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal. Locks then lower the ships at the other end. An average of 200,000,000 L (52,000,000 US gal) of fresh water is used in a single passing of a ship. The canal is threatened by low water levels during droughts.
The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty was a treaty signed on November 18, 1903, by the United States and Panama, which established the Panama Canal Zone and the subsequent construction of the Panama Canal. It was named after its two primary negotiators, Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, the French diplomatic representative of Panama, and United States Secretary of State John Hay.
The Panama Canal Zone, also simply known as the Canal Zone, was a concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending five miles (8 km) on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón. Its capital was Balboa.
Balboa is a district of Panama City, located at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. It was the former capital of the Panama Canal Zone under American administration.
Charles Edward Magoon was an American lawyer, judge, diplomat, and administrator who is best remembered as a governor of the Panama Canal Zone; he also served as Minister to Panama at the same time. He was Provisional Governor of Cuba during the American occupation of Cuba from 1906 to 1909.
Glen Edgar Edgerton was a United States Army officer, who served as governor of the Panama Canal Zone from 1940 to 1944.
Major General Harold Robert Parfitt, was the last Governor of the Panama Canal Zone, from 1975 to 1979.
George Whitefield Davis was an engineer and major general in the United States Army. He also served as a military governor of Puerto Rico and as the first military Governor of the Panama Canal Zone.
Martyrs' Day is a Panamanian day of national mourning which commemorates the January 9, 1964 anti-American riots over sovereignty of the Panama Canal Zone. The riot started after a Panamanian flag was torn and students were killed during a conflict with Canal Zone Police officers and Canal Zone residents. It is also known as the Flag Incident or Flag Protests.
Postage stamps and postal history of the Canal Zone is a subject that covers the postal system, postage stamps used and mail sent to and from the Panama Canal Zone from 1904 up until October 1978, after the United States relinquished its authority of the Zone in compliance with the treaty it reached with Panama.
Rainbow City, now known as the sector Arco Iris, in the corregimiento Cristóbal, is a section of the city of Colón in the Republic of Panama. It was originally built as segregated housing for Panama Canal employees and was developed into a proper town by the Canal Zone Government. During over a century of history, Rainbow City was home to some of Panama Canal's teachers, workers, and athletes.
Gamboa is a small town in corregimiento of Cristóbal in the Colón Province, Panama close to the Panama Canal and the Chagres River. It was one of a handful of permanent Canal Zone townships, built to house employees of the Panama Canal and their dependents. The name Gamboa is the name of a tree of the quince family.
The United States Air Forces Southern Command is an inactive Major Command of the United States Air Force. It was headquartered at Albrook Air Force Base, Canal Zone, being inactivated on 1 January 1976.
Cristóbal is a port town and corregimiento in Colón District, Colón Province, Panama. The corregimiento has a population of 49,422 as of 2010. The town is located on the western edge of Manzanillo Island, on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. Cristóbal Colón is the Spanish translation for Christopher Columbus, the Genovese explorer for whom these places were named.
The separation of Panama from Colombia was formalized on 3 November 1903, with the establishment of the Republic of Panama and the abolishment of the Colombia-Costa Rica border. From the Independence of Panama from Spain in 1821, Panama had simultaneously declared independence from Spain and joined itself to the confederation of Gran Colombia through the Independence Act of Panama. Panama was always tenuously connected to the rest of the country to the south, owing to its remoteness from the government in Bogotá and lack of a practical overland connection to the rest of Gran Colombia. In 1840–41, a short-lived independent republic was established under Tomás de Herrera. After rejoining Colombia following a 13-month independence, it remained a province which saw frequent rebellious flare-ups, notably the Panama crisis of 1885, which saw the intervention of the United States Navy, and a reaction by the Chilean Navy.
The United States District Court for the Canal Zone was a United States District Court which existed in the Panama Canal Zone of Panama from 1914 to 1982.
Panama is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America.
John Geronald Claybourn was a civil engineer and Dredging Division Superintendent of the Isthmian Canal Commission. He was the original designer of Gamboa, Panama. During his career on the Panama Canal and after his retirement, Claybourn was involved as a consultant in river and harbor improvement projects in several countries, primarily in Latin America.
The seal and flag were the symbols of the Panama Canal Zone, an unincorporated territory of the United States, that existed from 1903 to 1979. The seal was adopted in 1906, and the flag in 1915. They were used until October 1, 1979, when the territory ceased to exist.
