Frist Family - Ourfolk

JAMES GOODRICH was born and raised in Winchester, Indiana. He
attended public schools and the DePauw preparatory department in
1885. After his admission to the bar in 1887, Goodrich practiced law in
his home town and quickly moved to prominence in Republican
politics, serving as state chairman from 1901 to 1910 and national
committeeman, 1912 to 1916. A highly successful businessman, he
moved his practice to Indianapolis in 1910 and accumulated a large
fortune in farmland, coal mines, grain elevators, and banks. He was
elected governor in 1916 and served during the demanding years of
World War I. Major achievements during his administration included
planning a state highway system and creating the Department of
Conservation.

In 1920 Goodrich was a favorite son candidate for the presidential
nomination, losing to Warren G. Harding, who put him to work as
special emissary to Russia. By 1922 Goodrich was considered one of
America's best informed observers of Russian conditions. Goodrich
also served on Hoover's American Relief Administration and
commissions to plan for the St. Lawrence seaway. For many years he
was an important figure at the Republican national conventions as the
friend of presidents and the man behind the scenes in the Indiana
delegation.

Goodrich devoted considerable attention and money to philanthropy in
his last years, giving Wabash College more than a quarter of a million
dollars in addition to smaller gifts to other schools.

Source: Peat, Wilbur D. Portraits and Painters of the Governors of
Indiana 1800-1978. Revised, edited and with new entries by Diane
Gail Lazarus, Indianapolis Museum of Art. Biographies of the
governors by Lana Ruegamer, Indiana Historical Society. Indianapolis:
Indiana Historical Society and Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1978.

GOODRICH HALL was a gift to the College from James P. Goodrich, a former governor of Indiana and president of the Wabash College Board of Trustees from 1924 to 1940. Built in 1938 and fresh off a $33 million reconstruction and refurbishment, Goodrich Hall is home to the mathematics, computer science, and physics department.