Jay Johnson Morrow

Jay J. Morrow in Panama

Library of Congress

Quick Facts

Place of Birth:

Fairview, West Virginia

Date of Birth:

February 20, 1870

Place of Death:

Coco Solo Panama Canal Zone

Date of Death:

April 16, 1937

Place of Burial:

Charges River

Cemetery Name:

n/a

Jay Johnson Morrow was born in West Virginia in 1870. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated in 1891. His position in the class allowed him to join the Army Corps of Engineers. He returned to West Point to teach engineering in 1895.

Morrow served in the Philippines and was governor of the province of Zamboanga from 1901 to 1902. 

By 1907, he was stationed in Washington, DC where he served as a secretary of the Board of Control and was the District engineer commissioner. He served in this capacity for two years. When a road was built to connect 16th Street and Beach Drive in 1911, it was named for him.

He served as Chief Engineer of First Army and Deputy Chief Engineer of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I. When he returned, he was sent to Panama where he was Governor of the Panama Canal Zone from 1921 to 1924. He remained in Panama, where he died in 1937.