Campbell, Thomas Mitchell, 1856-1923

Thomas Mitchell Campbell (1856-1923), lawyer, general manager of the International-Great Northern Railroad, and governor of Texas, graduated from Trinity University and passed the Texas bar in 1878. He began his practice in Longview, Texas, in the same year. In 1889, Campbell became master chancery for the financially distressed International-Great Northern Railroad in Palestine, Texas. Campbell guided the railroad through its recovery, becoming its general manager in 1891. Distrusting big businesses, Campbell eventually clashed with the railroad’s owner Jay Gould and left the railroad to resume his law practice in 1897. Campbell, upon the encouragement of his friend, former governor James S. Hogg, ran for governor, winning the office in 1906 on an anti-trust platform.

Campbell served as governor for two terms (1907-1911) and affected reforms such as railroads regulations, anti-trust laws, lobbying restrictions, food and drug regulations, prison reform, and insurance laws. Furthermore, Campbell helped create many state agencies, such as the Department of Insurance and Banking, Bureau of Labor Statistics, State Board of Health, and the Texas State Library. In 1911, Campbell returned to his private practice, but remained active in politics, unsuccessfully running for the United States Senate in 1916. Campbell died in Galveston in 1923.

Source: Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. “Campbell, Thomas Mitchell,” http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/CC/fca37.html (accessed July 1, 2010).

From the guide to the Campbell, Thomas Mitchell, Papers 1948., 1898-1923, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)