THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (11th in a series)

The photograph (inset) was taken of the Whitakers, the Brownings, and other Sarasota pioneers on a Sunday afternoon in 1886 the fan in the hand of the man in the left foreground. The head-to-toe clothing and the mosquitoes made the fan a requirement.

Beginning in the fall of 1886 Sarasota was the fastest growing community on the West Coast of Florida south of Tampa. The DeSoto Hotel was under construction streets were opened in the woods, and homes were being built.

Craftsmen were paid $2.00/day, laborers $1.25/day, in cash. The first school, a one room building 16 X 25 feet was built on the south side of Main Street and paid for by Sir John Gillespie, an official of the Florida Mortgage & Investment Co. (FMIC). The photo of Sir John was taken in 1886.

He introduced golf to Florida on May 16, 1886 by “laying out” a two-hole one-fairway course on what is now Sarasota’s Main Street. The 2007 edition of the yellow pages lists over 65 golf courses in the Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice area, and John Gillespie designed quite a few of those built between 1888 and 1918).

On February 25,1887, Gillespie’s DeSoto Hotel opened with a Grand Ball that was attended by 200 persons, many of whom arrived on horseback. Some celebrants needed a few days before attempting the ride back home. The DeSoto Hotel was located at the foot of Main Street, had 30 rooms, a large lobby, and a dining room. It was said to be the finest on the West Coast of Florida; the rent was $2.00 a night. (Later renamed The Belle Haven Inn).

The mail arrived in Sarasota from the community of Manatee three days a week. It was then transported by horse and buggy. Since there were no bridges, the driver would ford the creeks at the shallowest places. Whenever the water rose above the buggy’s floor, the mailman would stand on the seat to keep dry.

On May 14, 1887, Charles Whitaker was appointed postmaster and the post office was moved to the Whitaker store on Main Street. The Sarasotans now could get their mail without trudging through the woods to the Abbe store, more than a mile and a half away. Alex Browning, son of a pioneer family, once remarked that you knew where people were visiting by where their horses were tethered. I suspect that this may have caused a rumor or two to be started.

Many of the workers who came to Sarasota for the good wages were rough characters and said and did things frowned upon by the good people. Construction continued at a rapid pace, however, and buildings were erected on the north side of Main Street between Palm and Pineapple Avenues. One of them was built for John Iverson who had just married and wanted a “new Home in town” for his bride. After many years, C.V.S. Wilson, the founder of the Sarasota Times, used the house as a print shop. The Florida Mortgage and Investment Co. built a two-story office building on the corner of 8th and Central. Gillespie had his office there.

On September 10, 1887, Elaf Green, a carpenter who had come to Sarasota with his family to work on the DeSoto Hotel stopped at Whitaker’s store and calmly remarked that he had just killed his wife, son and two daughters. Sheriff Watson, whose office was in Bradenton, was notified and he rushed to Sarasota and placed Green under arrest. The sheriff and Green were in a buggy headed back to Bradenton when Green threw the sheriff out of the buggy, grabbed his rifle and raised it to fire when Charles Whitaker who was following on horseback shot and killed him.

SARASOTA WAS INDEED A BOOMTOWN!

Photo credit: Sarasota County Historical Society

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Copyright © Leland G. Desmon. The information on this page may not be reproduced or republished on another webpage, website, or other printed material. Please LINK TO US instead.

THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (10th in a series)

The last issue of “Settling” included a short paragraph about Jack Tatum*, the town’s blacksmith, cobbler, and wagon builder. Enumeration of his versatility was space limited, and is continued here.

When the men of the town ran out of liquor, Jack would fire up the boiler and steam sour mash until everyone was satisfied. He had an organ in his home that he pumped vigorously, sweating up a storm, while playing for everyone’s entertainment. Records show that he was an accomplished (?) veterinarian and also pulled teeth. He was regarded as a pillar of the community.

A well was being drilled at what is now “Five Points. (Downtown Sarasota)” Someone noticed a few shiny yellow particles in the borings, and several hundred people came from everywhere to collect the “gold.” A jokester had scattered brass filings from Tatum’s shop in the dirt. As the saying goes, “A little work, a little play, to keep us going, and so good day.”

W. A. “Old Man” Bacon, a born jokester, built a house on the newly constructed pier from which he served oysters, raw or cooked, and donated a large glass of corn beer with each serving. It was a dizzying experience. The village pranksters were continually “egging” on W. A., a willing conspirator, and decided that they wanted some of John Gillespie’s newly arrived Kentucky bourbon. Bacon thought about it for awhile, took out his pocketknife and pricked his arm twice. When the blood covered his arm, he hollered as though in pain, and ran toward Gillespie. “Mr. Gillespie, a big rattler got me and the pizen’s goin’ all through me! I’m a goner.”

Just as expected, Gillespie said, “you need some whiskey and I’ll get it for you.” He ran to the warehouse and came out with a bottle of Old Crow.

Bacon took a big swig and slumped down, whereupon his co-conspirators grabbed the bottle and finished it off. Gillespie realized that he had been flimflammed, and to show that he wasn’t offended, brought out another bottle, the contents of which soon disappeared.

John Gillespie introduced golf to Florida. On May 16, 1886, he laid out the first gold course in the country, a long fairway with a tee and a green at each end. It was located in a clearing on what is now Main Street. He practiced daily for many years.

Brought over from Scotland, the name GOLF is an acronym for Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden.

*The community of Tatum Ridge is located in Sarasota County just north of Fruitville Road and east of I-75.

*The Tatum House (inset) has since been moved to Old Miakka at the Crowley Museum and Nature Center. ca.1892 Credit: Sarasota County Historical Resources

To be continued..

Copyright © Leland G. Desmon. The information on this page may not be reproduced or republished on another webpage, website, or other printed material. Please LINK TO US instead.

THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (9th in a series)

THE DEMISE OF THE ORMISTON COLONY

The last installment of “Settling" ended with the 68 Scottish colonists experiencing a snowfall on January 9, 1886. Dead fish washed ashore and Selvin Tate, the nephew of the Archbishop of Canterbury and promoter of the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company (FMIC) disappeared. The high hopes of the colonists, who had left Scotland three months ago, were dashed.

One reason for the failure of the colony is that the families were of the upper middle class. Not one had ever been a farmer. If housing had been available as promised, the colonists might have stayed. Nearly all had left by May 1, 1886.

Weeks before the intended arrival of the Colonists, Sir John Gillespie an official of the FMIC had ordered A. C. Acton, their local manager, to erect temporary housing for the colonists. He was also ordered to have a dock ready to moor the arriving shipload of Scotsmen. Acton was a very sick man, however, and unable to get much done.

In January 1886, John Hamilton Gillespie, Sir John Gillespie’s son was sent to Sarasota to relieve Acton and he began to lay out roads and sidewalks in the “downtown” area, build the DeSoto Hotel on Main Street (inset ca.1886), and more. A number of the colonists were employed in the building program.

Had the “Colony” arrived six months later, or the construction begun six months earlier, it might have been a success. Lumber for the dock and hotel was brought by schooners to the foot of Main Street, thrown overboard and floated to shore where it was transported by mule “powered” wagons to its final location.

Construction of the dock was backbreaking work that required the workers to stand in the cold water as deep as chest high. For this they earned $2.00 for a long day. A warehouse was built at the end of the dock to house merchandise.

Immediately upon its completion the side-wheel steamer Erie began making regular stops at Tampa and Sarasota.

In 1886, Dr. Thomas Wallace, who came with the colonists had a 1½-story house built on Main Street and placed a cot in one of the rooms where patients could be treated. He also established the first drug store.

Furman and Bill Whitaker opened the first General Store, aside from the Company Store. Hamlin Whitaker opened a market where he sold meat from a freshly butchered steer (ice was not available).

The first blacksmith, cobbler, and wagon builder whose name was Jack Tatum, came to town in 1886. He could shoe the most stubborn mule, remake any part of a wagon, mend any saddle and fix any sewing machine. It was said that he had a “wheel” left over after fixing a clock and it still kept good time.

In 1888 the FMIC issued a promotional booklet touting the weather, investment and recreational opportunities. It pointed out that Massachusetts’s death rate was 1 in 254, New York’s was 1 in 473, and Florida’s was 1 in 1,457. Establishment of these numbers was not explained.

In 1894, the Inn on Main Street hosted its’ first convention, a group of Baptists. The DeSoto Hotel had 30 rooms to rent.

The DeSoto Hotel and its furnishings cost 5,000 pounds (about $15,000). Tourists returned annually to spend 2 or 3 months to shoot birds, catch fish, and sail the calm waters of Sarasota Bay. Others came to fight tuberculosis or rheumatism.

Steamers carried passengers from the dock at the Hotel’s front door to the Tampa terminus of the railroad. The Mary Disston, known as the Dirty Mary, that also hauled freight, was one of the steamers.

Sarasota was becoming a “boom town.”

DeSoto Hotel - Credit: Sarasota County Historical Resources.

To be continued..

Copyright © Leland G. Desmon. The information on this page may not be reproduced or republished on another webpage, website, or other printed material. Please LINK TO US instead.

THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (8th in a series)

NO “TEMPORARY TOWN HOUSE”, NO TOWN, AND NO ROADS

At the end of last month’s “Settling”, the Ormiston Colony consisting of 68 Scottish colonists, found themselves in Sarasota without the promised “rent free house” (for 6 months) in town, no hotel under construction, or pier. The colonists then proceeded to make the best of their predicament, and some of them went to live in the homes of settlers.

The Lawries and the Brereton family found shelter in the old cedar bucket plant down the bay at the foot of Cunliff Lane. Tom Weir, the manager of the company store, passed out cots and bedding to those who had none. The Lawries had brought a large tent with them, and turned it over to the Brownings who pitched it under the pines near the company store.

Soon Mrs. Browning was busy at a campfire, making Scotch scones and pancakes with plenty of tea. That night, some of the Browning children slept in the company store. While the children slept, the older members of the family gathered around the young “natives” who did their best to make a good impression on the pretty, red-cheeked Scottish girls. The Whitaker family, the Riggins, Abbes, Tuckers, and Tatoms, all homesteaders, did what they could to help the newcomers.

The only thing the company store had for sale was a barrel of crackers that was emptied by the colonists’ children soon after their arrival. Hamlin Whitaker (inset ca.1890) made sure the colonists wouldn’t go hungry, however, as he went out with his cast net and in a short time came back with a load of mullet. Then he helped clean and fry them. They were just ready to eat when Emile Whitaker came along with some bread his mother had baked for the strangers. Later, the Whitaker boys showed the Browning girls how to bake bread in a deep pan over a campfire.

New Year’s day was always a big holiday for the Scotch and the colonists gathered at the cedar bucket plant and celebrated in a grand manner. Mrs. Lawrie and Mrs. Brereton unpacked their linen tablecloths, china and silver and set the table – rough planks on trestles. Tom Burges brought a large plum pudding his sister had made for him before he left Scotland. The pudding was cut into thin slices so that each person could have a piece—to be reminded of home! The portions of plum pudding were tiny but there was plenty of other food. The settlers had brought in game and fish, and the plates were heaped high. “It’s even said that the colonists had more than one “wee nip” of Cuban rum and Sarasota’s “dynamite” before the day was over.

That New Year’s day celebration, January 1, 1886, was the last happy gathering for the colonists. From then on, they had little cause to rejoice about anything. On January 9, the winds turned from south to north, the temperature dropped, and a cold rain began to fall. It snowed. In subtropical Sarasota! Some of them wondered whether it might be windblown ash from a distant fire until the children made and threw snowballs.

Dead fish washed ashore and a stench filled the air. The colonists became very irate and John Tate, who represented the Florida Mortgage and Investment Co. (FMIC) and had traveled to Sarasota with the Ormiston Colony, left hurriedly. It would be unfair to end this episode allowing the reader to conclude that the FMIC was a sleazy organization with the single purpose of obtaining the colonists 100 pounds sterling. The promised town and the 40 acre farms had been platted and registered with the Clerk of Courts, and over the next 18 months, FMIC spent 50,000 pounds on improvements. Would it be enough?

In buggy - Mr. Hamlin Whitaker, Mrs. Nell Adams, Mrs. Charles Abbe. On ground - Mrs. Anton Kleinoscheg (Aunt Carrie), ca.1890.
Credit: Sarasota County Historical Resources A.K. Whitaker Collection

(Continued..)

Copyright ©
Leland Desmon
The information on this page may not be reproduced or republished on another webpage, website, or other printed material. Please LINK TO US instead.