William B. Fraser
(1888-1972)

Died aged c. 84

William B. Fraser, born in Flowery Branch, Georgia in 1888, was one of nine children of a circuit Methodist minister. In 1912 he became Superintendent of Schools in Worth County, Georgia and began to explore southeast Georgia and north Florida. In 1927 he purchased the St. Augustine estate of Dr. Luella McConnell, known as the "Fountain of Youth." From 1933 to 1943 Fraser served on the City Commission, the last seven of those years as mayor. He served in the Florida Senate from 1944 to 1948. During the 1930s Fraser organized St. Augustine’s first formal restoration movement, Colonial St. Augustine, Inc. This was the forerunner of the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board. Research was undertaken, properties acquired and significant sites developed for interpretation by Colonial St. Augustine, Inc. He donated the statues of Ponce de Leon and Pedro Menendez that flank U.S. 1 at the North City Gate. William B. Fraser died in 1972.

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