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.[5] The Ehringhaus family remained involved in banking and law in Elizabeth City for generations.[5]

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.[6]

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.[7]

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.[8] He also cut state spending, successfully pushed for a three-cent sales tax, extended the school year and kept the schools open and solvent.[9]

He appointed former North Carolinian first lady Cora Lily Woodard Aycock as the President of the North Carolina Railroad.[10]

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."[11]

A dormitory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ehringhaus' alma mater (class of 1902) is named in his honor,[12] 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.[13]

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.

• North Carolina History Project
• National Governors Association