PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Ed Ball was born in Virginia in 1888. His full name was Edward Gresham Ball.
Ed went to a one room schoolhouse in Virginia. He hated it there. He convinced his father to let him leave school and get a job.
At first, he went to Alaska to look for gold, but he was not very successful. Then he met Alfed du Pont, and things changed. Alfred du Pont married Jessie Ball, Ed's sister.
Ed worked for du Pont, and he saw talent in him. They moved some of their work to Florida.
Alfred du Pont died in 1935. Ed Ball ran the businesses. He started by buying 2,000,000 acres of land in Florida. He then owned the East Coast Railway and St. Joe's Paper companies.
Although St. Joe's was the biggest paper making company in the US, it was harming the environment.
So Ed Ball bought 4,000 acres of land near Wakulla Springs to preserve it. Today it is called the Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park.
Edward Gresham Ball died in 1981 in New Orleans at the elderly age of 93. They put his grave in Wilmington, Delaware. He left his money to the Nemours Foundation, an organization to help sick children.
