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The stretch of South Street in downtown Orlando where the Wells’Built Museum sits got one step closer to being renamed Geraldine Thompson Way this week after an amendment to the House Transportation Facility Designations bill unanimously passed the Commerce Committee. The bill is now headed to a floor vote.
The Senate unanimously approved its version of the amendment, introduced by Democrat Sen. Kristen Arrington, in late March.
The roadway designation commemorates the late Sen. Geraldine Thompson who died unexpectedly in February after complications from knee surgery.
Ocoee State Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, who called Thompson her friend and mentor and is running for her senate seat in the June 24 special election primary, sponsored the amendment that will rename South Street between South Division Avenue and U.S. 441 after Thompson.
“ This designation not only pays tribute to Sen. Thompson's enduring impact but also ensures that future generations will recognize her work in preserving history and advancing the cause of justice,” Bracy Davis told the committee.
Thompson, a Democrat, had represented West Orange County in the Florida Legislature since 2006. She served in the Florida House from 2006 to 2012 and then was elected to the Florida Senate, where she served 2012 to 2016. She went back to the House from 2018 to 2022 and was then elected once more to the Senate in 2022 to represent District 15, which spans Winter Garden, Ocoee, Pine Hills, Eatonville, Dr. Phillips and parts of Orlando. She was overwhelmingly re-elected to the Senate in 2024.
Thompson was also the founder of the Wells’Built Museum of African American History and Culture, housed in the former Wells'Built Hotel, one of the only places Black visitors to Orlando could stay during the segregation era. She maintained her legislative district offices on the second floor of the museum where there were also recreations of the historic hotel rooms. She was instrumental in preserving the family home that belonged to Dr. William Wells, the hotel builder, relocating it to the property next to the museum.
In addition, Thompson was an educator, a historian, a civil rights icon, a lawmaker and a mentor to many young female legislators who came after her.
Rep. Michelle K. Rayner, a Democrat who represents parts of Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties, described Thompson as the “North Star” and the “conscience of the Legislature.” She said that it was “an honor to vote up on this amendment."
In her closing statement on the amendment, Bracy Davis said, “ Sen. Thompson was more than a legislator. She was a mentor, a truth teller, a vessel of history who preserved the voices of those who came before us. And made sure they would never be forgotten. And while nothing can truly encapsulate the depth of her impact, this designation will ensure that generations to come will know her name, her work, and the extraordinary life she lived.
