Sterling, Ross S., 1875-1949

Texas Governor Ross Shaw Sterling (1875-1949) was born to Benjamin Franklin and Mary Jane (Bryan) Sterling near Anahuac, Texas. He spent his early career in farming and business, and then entered the banking industry. In 1898, he married Maud Abbie Gage, with whom he had five children. In 1910, Sterling purchased two oil wells and developed the Humble Oil and Refining Company. He sold his interests in the company in 1925 and entered real estate development in the Houston area. In 1925-1926, he purchased the Houston Dispatch and Post, merging them to create the Houston Dispatch-Post . Sterling served as chairman of the Texas Highway Commission in 1930 and was inaugurated governor of Texas a year later. Confronting agricultural and oil emergencies due to the Great Depression, he declared martial law in four counties in East Texas to shut down oil production. The courts later ruled this declaration unconstitutional. After not being re-elected in 1933, Sterling returned to Houston, where he directed the Sterling Oil and Refining Company until 1946. He was also president of the American Maid Flour Mills and the R. S. Sterling Investment Company, as well as chairman of the Houston National Bank.

Source:

“Sterling, Ross Shaw,” The Handbook of Texas . Accessed September 19, 2011. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fst42.

From the guide to the Ross Shaw Sterling Papers 22966173., 1930-1939, (University of Texas at Austin, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History)