Source: The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol.III pg. 92-3 1923
Author: The History of Florida: Past & Present
CROOM, HARDY. The entire business career of HARDY CROOM has been
passed in connection with transportation systems, and during a period of more
than a quarter of a century spent in this line of work he has become a man of
wide and thorough experience. At the present time he is manager of the
Jacksonville Traction Company, a position in which his ability and executive
management are doing much to give the people of this city their best and most
efficient of service.
Mr. CROOM was born in Jefferson County, Florida, and like a number of
men who have succeeded in city affairs, is a product of the farm, his birth
having occurred on his father’s farm August 27, 1874. He is a son of HARDY C.
and AGNES A. (WARE) CROOM. His father, a native of Leon County, Florida, born
in 1840, became one of Florida’s pioneer orange growers, and for many years
carried on that business in conjunction with general agricultural pursuits, in
Jefferson County, where he died in 1904, at the age of sixty-four years. He
was a man who bore an excellent reputation in his community for business
integrity and personal probity, was a member of the Masonic fraternity and in
politics gave allegiance to the democratic party. His religious faith was
that of the Episcopal Church, to which also belonged his wife, who was born in
Jefferson County, this state, and died in 1921, when seventy-two years of age.
The only child of his parents, HARDY CROOM spent his boyhood on his
father’s farm and orange grove and acquired his early education in the public
schools. Later he pursued a course at the University of Florida, from which
he was graduated as a member of the class of 1896, and when he left that
institution had no inclination for a rural career. Accordingly he secured a
position in the drafting department of the Plant System Railway, with which he
remained until 1901, in that year entering the service of the Jacksonville
Street Railway, now known as the Jacksonville Traction Company, of which he
was made superintendent. Mr. CROOM held that position until 1907, when he was
advanced to the post of manager, a position which he still retains. He is a
thorough railway man, fully informed as to all details of management and able
to handle the problems of traffic and transportation, and has brought the
system to a high standard of efficiency. As a fraternalist he maintains
membership in Temple Lodge, F.and A.M.; the local lodge of the Knights of
Pythias; and Jacksonville Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His
religious connection is with the Episcopal Church. Politically he is a
democrat, but his duties have been such as to keep him from taking other than
a good citizen’s part in public affairs.
On June 5, 1902, Mr. CROOM was united in marriage with Miss LETTIE
GIRARDEAU, who was born in Jefferson County, Florida, and to this union there
have been born three sons: HARDY J., HOWARD and ARINTON.
Presented by Nancy Rayburn