William Reuben Thomas

Thomas was an active businessman owning banks and hardware, livery and stable, and grocery businesses.^[10] Thomas also owned two hotels. The White House Hotel was a hostelry, or home for travelers, that Thomas opened in 1909.^[11] The Hotel Thomas provided more luxurious accommodations to tourists.^[12] Thomas sold $160,000 worth of bonds to raise money to convert his private residence in northeast Gainesville into the Hotel Thomas in 1926.^[13] The renovation included consolidation of six city blocks.^[14] Today the City of Gainesville owns the building which is now named the William Reuben Thomas Center, and which houses city offices, event space, and cultural and historical exhibits.^[15]

Major Thomas’ most lasting accomplishment was securing Gainesville as the home of the University of Florida. During the summer of 1905, Florida Governor Napoleon B. Broward established a board to consolidate the state's education system under a single regulatory body and to establish a single university for white males.^[16] Mayor Thomas led the campaign to locate this university in Gainesville.^[17] Thomas personally donated 517 acres (2.09 km²) of land to entice the state to choose Gainesville. He succeeded and Thomas Hall, one of the first two buildings constructed at the University of Florida, is named in Major Thomas’ honor.