Sheldon Lyne Toomer Jr. (July 14, 1872 – September 27, 1957) was an American politician and businessman. A member of the

Alabama Democratic Party The Alabama Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the state of Alabama. It is chaired by Randy Kelley. The Alabama Democratic Party was once one of the most successful political organizati ...

, he served in the

Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...

from 1935 to 1939, and in the

Alabama Senate The Alabama State Senate is the upper house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alabama. The body is composed of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the state, with each district con ...

from 1943 to 1947. He also served as the

mayor of Auburn, Alabama The Mayor of Auburn is the highest elected position in the city of Auburn, Alabama. The mayor serves as the head of the Auburn City Council, presiding over the meetings, and they are elected in city-wide elections. Responsibilities The mayor serve ...

in 1918.

Education

Sheldon Toomer attended

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

, which was known at the time as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama. During his time at Auburn, he played halfback for the

1892 Auburn Tigers football team The 1892 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University in the 1892 college football season. It was the first college football team fielded by the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama, now known as Auburn University. The sq ...

, the first football team at Auburn. He was also a member of

Alpha Tau Omega Alpha Tau Omega (), commonly known as ATO, is an American social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 by Otis Allan Glazebrook. The fraternity has around 250 active and inactive chapters an ...

. He graduated in 1893 with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and agriculture. He spent three years at

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

teaching, before returning to Auburn in 1896 and graduating with a degree in pharmacy in 1897.

Business career

Toomer founded Toomer's Drugs on Toomer's Corner in 1896. He ended up buying the building from J. M. Thomas for $7,000 around the year 1906. He sold the drug business to McAdory "Mac" Libscomb in 1952, who ended up buying the building later in 1974. Toomer was tired of having to travel seven miles, nearly a full-day round trip, to

Opelika Opelika (pronounced ) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of Opelika is ...

just to go to the bank, so he decided to try and form an Auburn bank. He convinced Bennett Battle Ross, Charles Allen Cary, Thomas Bragg, Oliver Steadham, Thomas O Wright, and W. Pierce Zuber to found an Auburn bank. Together they got 33 total investors to commit $25,000 to buying stocks. This formed the Bank of Auburn, known now as AuburnBank, who opened their doors on January 3, 1907. He served as president of the bank for over 4 decades starting in 1908.

Political career

Toomer served on the Auburn City Council for 24 years starting in 1898, and served as the mayor of Auburn in 1918. He represented Lee County in the

from 1935 to 1939. He then ran for State Senate in the Alabama 27th district on November 3, 1942, where he was elected unopposed with 880 votes. He was sworn into office in January 1943, where he served for the next 4 years.

Personal life

Toomer's parents were Sheldon Toomer Sr., who was the first state representative of Lee County, and Wilhelmina "Willie" Lyne. Toomer married Florence Marguerite Prendergast on June 21, 1919, who taught French at Auburn University. They had two children, Margaret Hall and Sheldon Archer Toomer.

References

Books

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Toomer, Sheldon L. 1872 births 1957 deaths Auburn, Alabama politicians 20th-century members of the Alabama Legislature Auburn Tigers football players American bankers