James Henry Roper (1835 - 1883) was an educator, state senator and school founder in Florida. He moved to Gainesville in 1856. He represented

Alachua County Alachua County ( ) is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville, the home of the University of Florida since 1906, when the campus ope ...

in the

Florida Senate The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

. He built Gainesville Academy in 1858. A few years later he offered it as a new site for

East Florida Seminary The East Florida Seminary was an institution of higher learning established by the State of Florida in 1853, and absorbed into the newly established University of Florida in 1905. The school operated in Ocala, Florida, Ocala from 1853 until 1861. ...

and served as the school’s principal after its move. Gainesville competed with Lake City, home of Florida Agricultural College, for the newly organized

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. Gainesville’s Roper Park is named for him.

References

1835 births 1883 deaths People from Gainesville, Florida Founders of schools in the United States Florida state senators 19th-century American educators Schoolteachers from Florida 19th-century American politicians American school principals {{Florida-politician-stub