PHOTO VIA OLANDO MAYOR BUDDY DYER FACEBOOK PAGE
A stretch of West South Street in downtown Orlando has been renamed Senator Geraldine F. Thompson Way, honoring the late state senator, educator, and civil rights advocate. The designation covers the block between South Division Avenue and U.S. 441, directly in front of the Wells’Built Museum of African American History and Culture (Website), which she operated for decades.
The location was chosen because of Thompson’s long-standing connection to the museum, where she played a key role in preserving the historic Wells’Built Hotel and later founded the museum. The street renaming was approved by the Florida Legislature earlier this year and formalized during a public ceremony attended by local and state officials.
Thompson, who died in February of this year at the age of 76, served Central Florida for more than four decades. Her career included work as a public school teacher, an administrator at Valencia College, and the founder of the College Reach Out Program, which helps low-income and first-generation students access higher education. She later represented West Orange County in both the Florida House and Senate.
One of Thompson’s daughters, Elizabeth Grace, who previously served as the executive director of the Wells’Built Museum of African American History and Culture, has taken over operations of the museum. Orange County approved to give the museum $2 million in August to help modernize and repair the building.
