Image courtesy of The Winter Park Herald

George Charles Cartwright (1879-1970):

Building Superintendent 

George Charles Cartwright, born on October 27, 1879, originated in Sheffield, England.  His father functioned as a civil engineer, his grandfather served as a Methodist minister, and his distant relative, Edmund Cartwright, invented the power loom.  Cartwright became interested in engineering as an elementary school student.  He attended Whiteley College and majored in mathematics.  In addition, Cartwright volunteered in the Canadian Army before moving to the United States.  Once in the U.S., he worked for the Ashton Engineering and Chesterman Companies, engaged in experimental engineering, and assumed the role of superintendent of the Munitions and Metal Products Company.  His marriage to Sarah Ellen Cartwright, also an Episcopalian, produced a son (George Henry, whom Rollins College also employed, but predeceased his father in 1966) and a daughter.  Cartwright arrived in Winter Park in 1919.  He had a membership to the Winter Park Kiwanis Club and in 1927 he joined the Rollins staff as superintendent of grounds and buildings (a department known as buildings and grounds after 1951), a position he maintained until his retirement in 1961.  Cartwright oversaw all the construction work on campus, in addition to managing both the aesthetic and practical aspects in regards to the campus’ maintenance.  On June 5, 1941, Cartwright received the Rollins Declaration of Honor in recognition of his services to the College.  Cartwright died at the age of ninety-one on January 1, 1970.

- Angelica Garcia