John C. B. Ehringhaus

He was born on February 5, 1882, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He was a descendent of German immigrant Johann Christoph Ehringhaus, who arrived in North Carolina in the early nineteenth-century and opened a bank in Elizabeth City.{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/pasquotank/bios/eprenhse.txt|title=The Ehringhauses. A German-American Family in North Carolina

|author=Chris Klasing|year= 2003|website=usgwarchives.net|access-date=3 March 2024}} The Ehringhaus family remained involved in banking and law in Elizabeth City for generations.

Ehringhaus attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was a member of the Philanthropic society of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies from 1898 to 1902.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/northcarolinaman1935nort/page/116/mode/2up|title = North Carolina manual [serial]| year=1916 }}

Ehringhaus was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE), Elizabeth City Lodge #856. He served as District Deputy Grand Exalted Ruler for the North Carolina East District of the BPOE, 1909-1910.

Governor O. Max Gardner coaxed Ehringhaus, a former state legislator and attorney, out of political retirement as his hand-picked successor. He narrowly defeated Lieutenant Governor Richard T. Fountain in a Democratic primary runoff. Fountain claimed Ehringhaus was the tool of business interests.Christensen, Rob. The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics. 2008: UNC Press. p. 77.

Serving the state during the Great Depression, Ehringhaus encouraged the North Carolina General Assembly to create a state agency that would help rural areas of the state receive electricity services in order to revive the lagging economy.[http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/HS/HBStudyGuide06.pdf North Carolina Historic Sites] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206221202/http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/hs/HBStudyGuide06.pdf |date=December 6, 2006 }} He also cut state spending, successfully pushed for a three-cent sales tax, extended the school year and kept the schools open and solvent.Christensen. p. 89.

He appointed former North Carolinian first lady Cora Lily Woodard Aycock as the President of the North Carolina Railroad.{{cite web|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/aycock-cora-lily-woodard |title=Aycock, Cora Lily Woodard |publisher=NCpedia |date= |accessdate=2023-03-20}}

He died on July 31, 1949.

Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest "My name is pronounced as if spelled ear'en-house."Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.

A dormitory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ehringhaus' alma mater (class of 1902) is named in his honor,{{Cite web|url=https://housing.unc.edu/live/explore-the-halls/residence-halls/ehringhaus/|title = Ehringhaus - UNC Housing| date=May 5, 2020 }} and the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, of which Ehringhaus was a member, maintains a portrait in his honor.

The second longest bridge in the state of North Carolina, a 3.5-mile stretch over the Albemarle Sound, is named in honor of this former governor.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/collateral/articles/s05.who.did.that.sign.say.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727114434/http://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/collateral/articles/s05.who.did.that.sign.say.pdf|url-status=dead|title=North Carolina Museum of History|archivedate=July 27, 2011}}

Ehringhaus' grave is located in the historic Episcopal Cemetery in his hometown of Elizabeth City in Northeastern North Carolina, and the city's main thoroughfare, Ehringhaus Street, is named in his honor.

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/183/entry North Carolina History Project]
• [http://preview.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=735a078c94102110VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD National Governors Association]{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

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Category:1882 births

Category:1949 deaths

Category:American people of German descent

Category:Democratic Party governors of North Carolina

Category:Democratic Party members of the North Carolina House of Representatives

Category:North Carolina lawyers

Category:People from Elizabeth City, North Carolina

Category:20th-century American lawyers

Category:20th-century American Episcopalians

Category:20th-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly