Governor John Lee Carroll

JOHN LEE CARROLL was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 30, 1830. His education was attained at Mount St. Mary’s College in Maryland, at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and at Harvard University, where he earned a law degree in 1851. After establishing his legal career in Baltimore and New York, Carroll began a political career. He was a member of the Maryland State Senate from 1868 to 1876, serving as president from 1874 to 1876. Carroll secured the 1875 Democratic gubernatorial nomination, and went on to win election to Maryland governorship on November 2, 1875. He was sworn into office on January 12, 1876. During his tenure, a longstanding boundary dispute with Virginia was resolved; the State House’s old senate chamber was modernized; a new description was sanctioned for the state seal; the John Hopkins University was founded; and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad strike was resolved. After completing his term, Carroll left office on January 14, 1880. He went on to serve as a presidental elector in 1893, as a member of the Howard County School Board, and as director of the Patapsco National Bank. Governor John Lee Carroll passed away on February 27, 1911, and was buried at the Bonnie Brae Cemetery in Howard County, Maryland.