Frank W. Rollins

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Frank West Rollins
47th Governor of New Hampshire
In office January 5, 1899 – January 3, 1901
Preceded by	George A. Ramsdell
Succeeded by	Chester B. Jordan
President of the New Hampshire Senate
In office 1895–1897
Preceded by	John McLane
Succeeded by	Chester B. Jordan
Member of the New Hampshire Senate
Personal details
Born	(1860-02-24)February 24, 1860 Concord, New Hampshire
Died	October 27, 1915(1915-10-27) (aged 55) Boston, Massachusetts
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Katherine W. Pecker
Education	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Harvard University
Profession	Attorney
Signature

Frank West Rollins (February 24, 1860 – October 27, 1915) was an American lawyer, banker, and Republican politician from Concord, New Hampshire. He served New Hampshire in the state's Senate (as its president in 1895) and as the 47th governor from 1899 to 1901. Rollins and others founded the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests in 1901, a private organization to protect the forests now known as the "Forest Society." A shelter was built in his honor at Lost River in Kinsman Notch, New Hampshire in 1912, and remains there.

As governor of New Hampshire, he invented and founded "Old Home Week" intended to remind New Hampshiremen to return to their hometowns. This was in response to the large numbers of people moving to the Midwest (Minnesota in particular) because of the slow economy in the northeast at the time. He and his father started the investment banking firm of E.H. Rollins and Sons, which became one of the largest in the country by the crash of 1929. After the crash, it was very diminished and finally closed in the 1940s. New research shows that Rollins and Senator John Weeks collaborated on the founding of the National Forest Act of 1911, signed by the President William Howard Taft.

Frank W. Rollins died at the Hotel Somerset in Boston on October 27, 1915.^[1]

Rollins' 1890 mansion, the Gov. Frank West Rollins House on North State Street in Concord, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. His father, Edward H. Rollins, represented New Hampshire in the United States Senate.