Governor Everett John Lake

EVERETT JOHN LAKE, Connecticut’s 50th governor, was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, on February 8, 1871. He graduated from Worcester Polytechnic in 1890, and Harvard University in 1892, where he also played football and made the All-American team. Before he entered public service, Lake worked for the Hartford Lumber Company, serving as the company’s president from 1900 to 1939. He entered politics in 1903, as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, an office he held until 1905. He also served as a member of the Connecticut State Senate from 1905 to 1907, and was Connecticut’s lieutenant governor from 1907 to 1909. Lake won the 1920 Republican gubernatorial nomination, and was elected Governor of Connecticut. During his tenure, he endorsed legislation that benefited labor. A bill was enacted that prohibited child laborers from working more than eight hours a day, and legislation was constituted that withheld employment certificates from children who were deficient in required schooling. Lake left office on January 3, 1923, and retired from public service. Governor Everett J. Lake died on September 16, 1948, in Hartford, Connecticut.