Jesse S. Cooper Building - Dover, Delaware
Posted by: 
ddtfamily
N 39° 09.342 W 075° 31.279
18S E 454956 N 4334184
Public Health Building named after a Delaware State Treasurer
Waymark Code: WMMPNF
Location: Delaware, United States
Date Posted: 10/20/2014
Views: 5
The Place: The Jesse S. Cooper Building houses the Delaware State Public Health Division. It is located southwest of the Delaware Legislative Hall in Dover, the state capital. It is a large, brick, colonial style structure and was completed on April 30, 1960. The building was dedicated to Mr. Cooper on November 10, 1971. The building is open to the public weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
The Person: Jesse Sherwood Cooper, Jr. (1899-1971) served as the Delaware State Auditor in 1927. A native Delawarean, in 1939 Mr. Cooper became chief field deputy for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in Wilmington. In 1944, after resigning from the IRS, he founded an accounting business in Camden, Delaware, and later that year was elected State Treasurer.
In 1950, Cooper discovered a corruption ring in the IRS and reported it to Delaware U.S. Senator John Williams. Senator Williams launched an investigation that exposed the criminal acts. When the state of Delaware later proposed naming the Public Health building for Senator Williams, the Senator refused and instead suggested that it be named for Jesse S. Cooper.