It's hard to believe that through all those years of the dominance of the Delco GOP, this county has managed to land exactly one man in the governor's mansion.
That would be none other than William Cameron Sproul.
And he was a newspaperman to boot.
Sproul was an icon of Chester business, whose accomplishments included being president of what at the time was referred to as the Chester Daily Times. That would be the predecessor of this newspaper, the Delaware County Daily Times.
But it became apparent that Sproul was in line for greater things on the political front.
He became the youngest person ever elected to the state Senate, representing the 9th District.
We featured Sproul in Monday's newspaper - and for good reason.
It was exactly 100 years ago, Jan. 21, 1919, that William Cameron Sproul was sworn into office as governor of Pennsylvania.
He served one term, and received serious consideration for the Republican presidential nomination in 1920. He eventually declined the vice president's spot on the ticket with Warren G. Harding.
Harding, as history tells us, died in office.
That would have meant that, had he accepted that VP nod, a native of Chester and Delaware County would have been elevated to president of the United States. Instead, the job went to Vice President Calvin Coolidge.
If you missed it, make sure you read this terrific profile here.
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