Clarence Osborne Sherrill

Clarence O. Sherrill (May 24, 1876 – February 6, 1959) was an American military officer, city manager, and lobbyist. The son of a North Carolina politician and Civil War veteran, Sherrill attended colleges in his home state before transferring to the United States Military Academy (West Point), graduating with a degree in civil engineering. During the next decade, Sherrill briefly served as a military aide to President Theodore Roosevelt and was stationed in the Philippines and several U.S. cities. During World War I, Sherrill was stationed in France where he led the 302d Engineers. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and awarded the Croix de Guerre and Distinguished Service Medal.

In 1921, Sherrill moved to Washington, D.C., where he served as chief military aide to President Warren G. Harding and later President Calvin Coolidge. He was appointed director of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds, overseeing a large number of departments and construction projects. When one of these projects, the Lincoln Memorial, was dedicated, Sherrill was responsible for having the audience segregated. He implemented this racist policy in various parks, public pools, and golf courses throughout the city. He retired from the military and left his role in Washington, D.C., in 1925, then moved to Ohio, where he served as Cincinnati's first city manager. In the 1930s, Sherrill was vice president of the Kroger Grocery and Baking Company and president of the American Retail Federation (later merged into the National Retail Federation). He later resumed his role as city manager of Cincinnati and retired in 1944. Sherrill and his wife, Gerladine, had two children. The couple died in the 1950s and were buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Early life Clarence Osborne Sherrill was born on May 24, 1876, in Newton, North Carolina, the third of seven children. His younger sister, Mary Lura Sherrill, became a prominent chemist and his older brother, Joseph Garland Sherrill, helped found the American College of Surgeons. His mother was Sarah Ramseur Bost and his father, Miles Osborne Sherrill, was a Civil War veteran who had lost a leg at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. After the war, his father was a clerk of court in Catawba County, a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives and North Carolina Senate, and state librarian from 1899 to 1916.

Sherrill attended Catawba College before enrolling at Trinity College (now Duke University). He left Trinity in 1897 to attend the United States Military Academy (West Point), where he graduated at the rank of second lieutenant in 1901 with a degree in civil engineering, second in his class. After graduating, Sherrill was stationed as an engineer in the Philippines, assisting with the construction of roads, bridges, and wharves. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1903 and moved to Washington, D.C., serving as a military aide to President Theodore Roosevelt for one year. In 1911, he served as chief engineer at Fort Crockett in Galveston, Texas, followed by stints in Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans.

Career Washington, D.C. In 1921, Sherrill was appointed chief military aide to President Warren G. Harding, a role he continued during the early years of Calvin Coolidge's presidency. While also serving as military aide, Sherrill was appointed director of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds, beginning in March 1921. In this role, Sherrill was responsible for a large number of projects and departments. He was involved with planning the construction of several prominent sites in Washington, D.C., including the Lincoln Memorial, the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, the George Gordon Meade Memorial, the Titanic Memorial, and the Arlington Memorial Bridge. Blanton wrote that Sherrill presides "arrogantly and pompously as the sole and exclusive dictator, lawmaker, law enforcer, contract letter, concession granter, employee hirer, employee discharger, money disburser, judge, jury and executioner from whose iron decree there is no way of escape." Sherrill also implemented segregation policies in the city's parks, pools, and picnic areas, by requiring installation of signs that said "white" and "colored". An article in The Durham Morning Herald reported: "Negroes in the District of Columbia have requested President Harding to remove Col. C. O. Sherrill, aide to the president, because the latter is charged with segregating the races at public gatherings in Washington."

Cincinnati Sherrill left Washington, D.C., to work as the first city manager of Cincinnati, Ohio. After Grant III declined to take over the role when Sherrill left, Clarence Addison Dykstra was named the new city manager. Sherrill worked as vice president of the Kroger Grocery and Baking Company from 1930 to 1935, assisting with the company's advancements in supply chain management. His military background and success at Kroger was the inspiration for a character in Once an Eagle, a novel by Anton Myrer. Sherrill served as the organization's president, and according to academic author Michael J. Hicks, was instrumental in thwarting attempts to stop the "anti-chain store movement" by utilizing advertisements and placards.

Personal life While studying at the School of the Line, Sherrill married Geraldine Caldwell Taylor, granddaughter of former U.S. Senator Alexander Caldwell, on November 30, 1905. Sherrill died on February 6, 1959, at The Christ Hospital and was buried alongside his wife in Section 6, Grave 9542-1. Sherrill Drive in Rock Creek Park is named in his honor.