Gov. Frederick Preston Cone

FREDERICK PRESTON CONE, Florida’s 27th Governor, was born in Benton, Florida, on September 28, 1871. He was educated at the Florida Agricultural College and Jasper Normal College. He studied law, was admitted to the Florida bar in 1892, and established a law and banking career in Lake City. Cone entered politics as mayor of Lake City, a position he held for three terms. He also served in the Florida State Senate from 1907 to 1913, was President of the Senate in 1911, and was a delegate to the 1924 and 1928 Democratic National Conventions, chairing the convention in 1932. In 1936 Cone won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and was elected Governor of Florida. During his tenure, he was against the implementation of new taxes, but he supported instituting a driver’s license fee for use in funding a highway patrol program. Also, the state sponsored an exceptional display in the New York World’s Fair. Before leaving the governor’s office on January 7, 1941, Cone ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1940. Governor Frederick P. Cone died on July 28, 1948, and he is buried at the Prospect Primitive Baptist Cemetery near White Springs, Florida.