Thomas Calloway Lea, Jr. - El Paso, Texas

Thomas Calloway Lea, Jr. - El Paso, Texas

Thomas Calloway Lea, Jr. (1877-1945), was a prominent American attorney from El Paso, Texas, and mayor of El Paso from 1915 to 1917. Lea arrived in El Paso with no money. He washed dishes and later he found a job as a bill collector. 1906 he married Zola Utt. The couple had three sons including the noted artist and writer Tom Lea. He was appointed Police Court Judge in 1907 for four years, later he became a trial lawyer. He also volunteered in the Spanish-American War and in World War I. He came back to El Paso and continued his law business. Lea and his law partner, Robert Ewing Thomason, were noted for their use of emotionalism in court. On February 16, 1915, Tom Lea became the youngest mayor ever elected to that date, carrying four out of seven precincts, with a vote of 4,218 to 3,149. During his term in office, the city council passed an ordinance forbidding the public sale of narcotics and marijuana. As a mayor Lea also made a public declaration, after Pancho Villa (one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals) raided Columbus, New Mexico, on March 9, 1916, that he would arrest Villa if he dared to enter El Paso. Villa then responded by offering a thousand pesos worth of gold bounty on Lea. Consequently, the Lea children had to have a police escort to and from school. In 1936 his first wife died of cancer and Lea married Mrs. Rosario Partida Archer in 1939. Thomas Calloway Lea, Jr. died of a heart attack in Southwestern General Hospital on August 2, 1945, and was interred in Evergreen Cemetery on August 4. A city park located below Rim Road in El Paso Texas was named for him. Tom Lea is remembered as a charismatic political reformer, and his oratorical style and success in the courtroom helped him to become an effective leader in the cause.

Creator: Silke

Area: Central / Downtown

Collection: Stout-Feldman Studio Photographs

Source: University of Texas at El Paso Library - Special Collections Department

Reference ID: PH074-14G

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Comments

Add a comment
Thank you for your comment

Report this entry

Choose the most important reason for this report

Your name

Your email address

Optional detail

Thank you for your report

More from the same community-collection

The Devil you Say! The Saintly and not so Saintly in Folk Art

The Devil you Say! The Saintly and not so Saintly, in Folk Art ...

Roberto Mata Departs Sierra after Covid

Roberto Mata in 2020 on the respirator 30 days and then ...

Anita Blair and seeing-eye dog, Rita

Anita Blair, the first blind woman to hold any state ...

Mayor Don Henderson and Sugar Goodman El Paso, TX 1976

Mayor Don Henderson and Sugar Goodman El Paso, TX 1976

Amelia, nicknamed Sugar, Goodman in 1976

Friend congratulates Amelia, nicknamed Sugar, Goodman on ...

Curt Warren, jazz professor, at funeral of Felix Antoine 1996

Kurt Warren, jazz professor, El Paso, TX at funeral of Felix ...

El Paso Scottish Rite turns 100 years old.

El Paso Scottish Rite building turns 100 years old.     ...

Anita Blair by Jack Bradley

Anita Lee Blair (1916-2011) born in Oklahoma City came to El ...

Aztec Calendar

Aztec calendar park, El Paso,Tx in 2014. This photo was taken ...

My Political Signs Display

A display of historical El Paso political memorabilia I curated ...

Women Attend Historical Society Hall of Honor FALL 2021

Attendees at the Historical Society Hall of Honor event on ...

Donald Williams at the Historical Society HoF event

Donald Williams at the Historical Society Hall of Honor banquet ...

Hall of Honor attendee

Hall of Honor attendee November 14, 2021 Plaza Hotel Pioneer ...

Janine Young, writer and historian

Janine Young, writer and historian El Paso County Historical ...

Ginger G. Francis at the Historical Society HoH

Ginger G. Francis graduated the Loretto Academy Class '75. She ...

Hilda Stockmeyer Lewels, civic leader

Hilda Stockmeyer Lewels, civic leader at the November 14, 2021 ...

El Paso Realtor Ayoub

El Paso Realtor Ayoub at the El Paso Historical Society 60th ...

Downtown Main Library El Paso Texas November 2021

Downtown Main Library El Paso Texas under construction November ...

Gov Ann Richards quote and picture in downtown El Paos

Governor Ann Richards Honored in downtown El Paso, Texas by ...

Goodbye Children's section

Taking down shelves from the Children's section of the El Paso ...

Steven J. Ross, M. J. Ross, Eva Ross El Paso TX 1986

Steven J. Ross, M. J. Ross, Eva Ross El Paso TX 1986

El Paso's Homegrown: World War II

The homefront of El Paso, Texas was no stranger to war. Between ...

home.search_collection