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..

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