Edward Gresham Ball (March 21, 1888 – June 24, 1981) was a businessman who wielded powerful political influence in Florida for decades.

He was a leader of the anti-communist Pork Chop Gang, a group of Democratic Party legislators from North Florida.

He began working for his brother-in-law in 1923 at the lofty salary of $5,000 a year, and moved to Delaware where he was publicly named manager of the Clean Food Products Company.

Ball had no interest in running for office and little desire for material things; for most of his life, he didn't even own an automobile.

Critics say he hijacked the trust as a tool of his personal power, treating the assets like a miser hoarding every coin.

Ball wanted children, but his wife was unable to get pregnant due to reproductive problems several years before their wedding.

On March 7, 1989, First Union Corporation, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, announced that it would acquire Florida National Banks in a deal worth $849 million.

Dupont drew up elaborate plans for the development of his mill town as “The Model City of the South”, and then died.

[14] The company invigorated the local economy following the depression, employing thousands and paying good wages, but wreaked havoc on the environment.

St. Joe Paper also clear-cut millions of acres of old growth forest, engaging in silviculture to replant the areas with slash pine.

[16] Ball dynamited parts of the Wakulla River to open the way for boats bringing his guests to the springs, then fenced off the water passage to keep out the "riff-raff".

[14] At the time the Lodge was built no telephone service was available in Wakulla County, so Ball ran a line through the forest from his base in distant (89 miles) Port St. Joe.

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 and subsequent Great Depression were particularly hard on the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC).

Bus service began to be substituted for trains on the branches in 1932, and the Key West Extension was abandoned after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935.

However, streamliners terminating in Miami nevertheless plied the rails between 1939 and 1968, including such famous trains as The Champion and The Florida Special jointly operated with the Atlantic Coast Line.

Arguably the most noteworthy chapter in Ball's business career was his battle against the railroad unions in the Florida East Coast Railway strike of 1963 to 1977.

Eventually, Federal intervention helped quell the violence, and the railroad's right to operate during the strike with replacement workers was affirmed by the United States Supreme Court.

As the strike continued, the Florida East Coast took numerous steps to improve its physical plant, install various forms of automation, and drastically cut labor costs, all to an extent that most other railroads would not succeed in matching until years later.

In response, Ball instituted a bare-bones passenger service with only a box lunch for food and no baggage, which lasted until 1968.

After his sister died in 1970, Ball came under strong criticism for reinvesting the trust's income to build up their value instead of fully respecting the requirements of du Pont's will, which stipulated that after Jessie Ball du Pont's death, trust income was to be used to aid the Nemours Foundation in caring for crippled children and indigent elderly in Delaware.

Ed Ball's favorite euphemism for death was "going across the creek", a reference he learned from Alfred du Pont.

If the powder accidentally exploded, the wooden wall acted as a safety valve so whole building would not collapse on the men inside.