Rolland Harty Spaulding (March 15, 1873 – March 14, 1942) was an American manufacturer and Republican

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He was the 55th

governor of New Hampshire The governor of New Hampshire is the head of government of New Hampshire. The governor is elected during the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along with bordering Verm ...

from 1915 to 1917.

Early life and education

Rolland Harty Spaulding was the third son of Jonas Spaulding and Emeline Cummings. He was born in 1873 in

Townsend Harbor, Massachusetts Townsend Harbor is a village in Townsend, Massachusetts, containing Harbor Pond dammed from the Squannacook River. At this location Jonas Spaulding and his brother Waldo started a mill in 1873 that made leatherboard (composed of leather scraps ...

, where his father and uncle had a fiberboard mill. His father founded a mill at

Rochester, New Hampshire Rochester is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,492 at the 2020 census. In addition to the downtown area, the city contains the villages of East Rochester, Gonic, and North Rochester. Rochester is ...

and moved his family there. The young Spaulding was educated at

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = M ...

, class of 1893.

Career

With his two older brothers, Rolland Spaulding joined their father in the family business, renamed J. Spaulding and Sons, which ran mills to produce leatherboard (typically produced by pulping and compressing scrap leather and wood pulp). In addition to mills in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, that his father had founded, Rolland and his brothers Leon C. and Huntley N. Spaulding, built one in

Tonawanda, New York Tonawanda (formally ''City of Tonawanda'') is a city in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 15,130 at the 2010 census. It is at the northern edge of Erie County, south across the Erie Canal ( Tonawanda Creek) from North To ...

, which became the largest. Rolland Spaulding became a prominent businessman, working with his father and brothers in the family industry. Their family-owned company manufactured fiberboard, later adding a type of resin laminate named Spauldite® (to compete with Bakelite) and

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...

tubing to their product lines. Spaulding became active in Republican Party state politics. He was elected Governor in 1914, but declined to run for a second term. Like his brothers and sister Marion, Rolland became a

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. He died the day before his 69th birthday, in Rochester, New Hampshire.

Honors

Spaulding Turnpike The Spaulding Turnpike is a north-south toll road in eastern New Hampshire. Nearly its entire length is overlapped by New Hampshire Route 16. Its southern terminus is at the Portsmouth Traffic Circle (Interstate 95 / U.S. Route 1 Bypass) in Por ...

was named for Rolland and his brother Huntley N. Spaulding. It connects their hometown of Rochester to

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadi ...

External links

Spaulding at New Hampshire's Division of Historic Resources
1873 births 1942 deaths Republican Party governors of New Hampshire People from Townsend, Massachusetts {{NewHampshire-politician-stub