SETTLING SARASOTA (22nd in a series)

Sarasota’s bad times continued through 1909 as evidenced by a published booklet advertising 82 bargain Sarasota properties for sale. One example read: 8 1/2 acres, 6-room house, large barn, tools, one-half mile from town, $1,500.

On January 23, 1910, Mrs. Potter Palmer was in her Lake Michigan home reading the Chicago Sunday Tribune. The wind was howling, it was snowing, and sleet was forming on the windows. She saw an ad in the classified section that told of beautiful Sarasota, a modern city on the Bay where there were still tracts of the “richest land in the world” that could be purchased for a trifle. Details could be obtained by contacting J. H. Lord of the real estate office of Lord and Edwards with offices in the Marquette Building (Chicago). Mrs. Palmer (Bertha) was interested.

On Monday, Mrs. Palmer’s father (H.H.Honore) visited Mr. Lord, a cracker-jack salesman. H. H. was captivated by Mr. Lord and made an appointment for him to meet Mrs. Palmer the next day.

When Lord left the mansion, he had Mrs. Palmer’s assurance that she would be in Sarasota by February 10. When he got back to his office he telegraphed A.B Edwards, “Mrs. Potter Palmer coming to Sarasota. Prepare a place for her plus a party of four. She will buy heavily if interested.”

Mrs. Potter Palmer, the Chicago socialite; a woman with homes in London and Paris was coming to Sarasota!

The immediate problem was to secure suitable accommodations for the party of five. Edwards called Dr. Jack Halton and arranged to convert his newly built sanitarium into a residence for the Palmers. The always spotless building was scrubbed to perfection and suitable furniture was purchased.

On February 10, 1910, Mrs. Palmer, her two sons, her father, and her brother arrived by train in a private car. Edwards knew not what to expect. She was friendly, congenial, and even thought that the shabby town was “quaint..”

He told her that he was born in Sarasota, that he wandered the woods barefoot as a child and told how the early settlers lived. Her interest in Sarasota snowballed. Edwards engaged Captain William Hodges’ launch and took Mrs. Palmer and her father for a sightseeing trip on Sarasota Bay. They docked at a rickety slip on Lawrence Jones’ property and marched through the weeds to look at an oak tree and cabbage palm that had grown up together. She was captivated by everything she saw and decided to buy the 13-acre property for her winter home.

Jones held out for $11,000 and that is what Mrs. Palmer paid for it. She bought 200 adjoining acres and eventually built “The Oaks” on the property.

J. H. Lord came from Chicago a few days after the Palmer party arrived, and he and Edwards took them on sight-seeing trips throughout the area. Some trips were by horse and buggy. Some were by car that Lord rented from a friend. An intended four-day stay grew into eleven. Eventually Mrs. Palmer bought more than 80,000* acres in the Sarasota region.

The Chicago Sunday Tribune carried a full-page layout of Sarasota with pictures and text. Sarasota land values multiplied.

* 80,000 acres = 125 square miles

(Continued)..

(C) Copyright, 2008 - Leland Desmon. The information on this page may not be reproduced or republished on any other webpage, website, or publication. Please LINK TO US instead.

Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

SETTLING SARASOTA (21st in a series)

In the fall of 1911, John Ringling spent a few days in the Sarasota area during which he visited with Ralph Caples who had just purchased a large home with acreage from C. H. Thompson. Early in 1912, John and his wife Mable returned to Sarasota in their private railroad car ‘JOMAR’. (Jo for John, Ma for Mable, and R for Ringling). It was during Sarasota’s coldest winter. John remarked that it was warmer up north; Caples told him that it wouldn’t last more than a few days and that land prices were going up.

John: “Tell you what Ralph, if you sell me the Thompson place cheap, just like it stands, I’ll buy it tonight.”

Caples: “Mr. Ringling, you’ve bought yourself a home.”

The transaction was recorded at the county seat in Bradenton on January 31, 1912. John and Mable moved into the Thompson house, and Charles Ringling, his wife Edith and their two children came down to visit and bought property adjacent to John’s.

Everyone knew the name Ringling and when it was learned that John and Charles had purchased property on Shell Beach, Sarasota rejoiced! Ringlings and circus were synonymous. It brought visions of elephants, clowns, acrobats and more.

One afternoon John and Owen Burns went to uninhibited St. Armand’s Key in Burns’ boat. John remarked that a causeway to the mainland would make the key the best residential section in the state. Through Burns, John bought St. Armand’s Key, acreage on the south end of Longboat Key, and Bird Key.

During the 1913-14 winter, the United States began to go into an economical tailspin when – boom- a Serb assassinated Archduke Francis of Austria and his wife. Russian troops invaded Germany, German troops invaded France. World War I had started. Orders for munitions, clothing, food and more poured into the United States. All of the country prospered including Sarasota.

In the fall of 1919 thousands of “tin-can” tourists invaded Florida. The Belle Haven Inn which had been purchased by C. T. Whittle from Ralph Caples for $35,000 in 1914 was rumored to have been sold to an anonymous buyer for $500,000.

(To be continued)..

(C) Copyright, 2008 - Leland Desmon. The information on this page may not be reproduced or republished on any other webpage, website, or publication. Please LINK TO US instead.