Elbridge Gerry - Legacy

Legacy

Gerry's most well-known legacy is in the coining of the word gerrymander, based on the publication in 1812 of a political cartoon criticizing the highly partisan redistricting of Massachusetts.

Gerry's grandson, Elbridge Gerry (1813–1886), was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine; his great-grandson, Peter G. Gerry (1879–1957), was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a United States Senator from Rhode Island.

Gerry was depicted in John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence. The painting was reproduced on the reverse of the two dollar bill beginning in 1976.

The upstate New York town of Elbridge is named in his honor, as is the western New York town of Gerry, in Chautauqua County. The town of Phillipston, Massachusetts was originally incorporated in 1786 under the name Gerry in his honor, but was changed to its present name by a town vote in 1812.

Gerry's Landing Road in Cambridge, Massachusetts is located near the Eliot Bridge not far from Elmwood. The area was known as Gerry's Landing during the 19th century, and was used by a Gerry relative for a short time as a landing and storehouse. The supposed house of his birth, the Elbridge Gerry House (it is uncertain whether he was born in the house currently standing on the site or an earlier structure) stands in Marblehead, and that town's Elbridge Gerry School is named in his honor.