Sarasota in the sixties
· New College, a liberal arts college, was established on the grounds of the former Charles Ringling Estate.
· Hurricane Donna hit Sarasota with 120 mph winds, pulled the water out of the bays and inlets, forced the evacuation of the Keys, and closed all of the schools.
· Chicago White Sox began spring training at Payne Park.
· Bay Haven School became the first public school in the county to have an integrated program enrolling 39 black students.
· A $1.35 million bond issue was approved by the voters for a city-owned performing arts building, the Van Wezel. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s successor firm and was built using these funds.
· The Sailor Circus, a Sarasota High School program, established a permanent venue on Bahia Visa Street.
· Construction of a new airline terminal building had been completed and occupied by Eastern Airlines. The FAA accepted the control tower operation, and Douglas DC-7’s began regular flights to the Sarasota Bradenton Municipal airport.
In February 1965, the jet age was officially introduced to the area when National Airlines began using 103 passenger Boeing 727’s for flights between Sarasota and New York City
(To be continued)...
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Monday, June 15, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (32nd in a series)
Sarasota in the nifty fifties was a busy place.
The Asolo Theater was brought from Italy and installed in the Ringling Museum of Art. US Route 41 was rerouted to follow the downtown bay front, adding a new island park and marina. Riverview High School and Brookside Middle School were built. The Herald Tribune returned to being a morning newspaper and moved into its new building on US 41. The Asolo Theater opened with a presentation of the New York City Center Opera Company. The Ringling Shopping Center, Sarasota’s first, opened in 1955 and Publix was the key occupant. Sarasota was the first city in Florida to have a Golden Arches (McDonald’s) restaurant. The first Miss Florida Pageant was held in Sarasota in 1956. The Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus gave its last performance under the big top in Pittsburgh on July 16, 1956. It required 90 railroad cars to move the circus around the country. A red tide outbreak of catastrophic proportion in 1957 killed thousands of marine animals in the Gulf between Clearwater and Naples. Prisoners were used to clean up the dead fish. A hard freeze (20 degrees F.) hit Sarasota on the 12th and 13th of December 1957 and did millions of dollars of damage to vegetable crops and livestock. The Arvida Corporation, founded by Arthur Vining Davis purchased the southern half of Longboat Key, all of Bird Key, and most of Lido Key from the Ringling Estate for 13.5 million dollars. The Sailor Circus, a part of the Sarasota High School gymnastics program, erected tents on the high school football field and performed aerial acts in the open. A 30 minute short subject was filmed by Warner Brothers and shown in theaters world-wide. Negro golfers played the Bobbie Jones Golf Course for the first time.
(To Be Continued)..
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Sarasota was a city with small town ambiance.
(To Be Continued)..
(C) Copyright, 2009 - Leland Desmon.
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THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (31st in a series)
Did you know that there was a naval attack transport, the U.S.S. Sarasota, that was built in California in 1944? It served in the southwest Pacific during WWII. The U.S.S. Sarasota transported troops, defended itself against air attacks, came to the aid of wounded ships, and took part in assaults and landings on Okinawa and the Philippines.
President Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia, on April 12, 1945, and Vice President Harry Truman became President. Germany surrendered to the Allied Command on May 7, 1945, and Sarasota celebrated. Japan surrendered unconditionally on August 15, 1945, after atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
During the winter of 1945-46, 40,000 winter visitors came to Sarasota, more than ever before. The housing shortage became acute because many of the servicemen were still here despite the ending of hostilities. The boom had begun.
The Trail Drive-in Theater, one of the first in Florida, opened in 1949 across from the Sarasota/Bradenton Airport. It held 780 cars; the projector was 245 feet from the 65’x47’ screen. It was family entertainment. First run movies were shown and the snack bar served chicken and shrimp dinners.
In 1949-1950, 500 houses, five churches, thirty-five stores, ten apartment houses, seven motels, two fire stations and a new radio station were built. Paver Park Homes were advertised for $2,500 down, $50/month.
Sarasota started its effort to become a center for the arts when the Circus Museum opened and the West Coast Symphony was established in 1949. There was an arcade on the pier at the end of Main Street with a pool full of tropical fish. You could buy fresh caught kingfish from Captain Anderson at $1 a pop when he docked to bring a group of deep-sea fisherman back on land.
The two blocks at the end of Main Street were known as “down town” and had several restaurants and lounges with entertainment. Famous artists and writers lived in Sarasota. St. Armand’s Key was alive with elite stores. You could swim, play volley ball on the beach and dance to the music of Rudy Bundy at the Lido Casino, often featuring Lenny Dee.
There were circus shows at the Ringling Hotel on U. S. 41, and Hollywood was here filming “The Greatest Show on Earth.” In fact, there were 15 circus companies with headquarters in Sarasota and more circus people were living here than in any other place in the world.
A group of architects who later became famous came to Sarasota in the early 1950’s led by Ralph Twitchell and including Paul Rudolph, Victor Lundy, Tim Siebert, Jack West and the developer, Philip Hiss.
John D. MacDonald, author and environmentalist, moved to Siesta Key in 1950. He wrote 75 novels, a number of which were the very popular ”Travis McGee” mystery series.
Sarasota was a bustling slice of Paradise in 1951.
(To Be Continued)..
(C) Copyright, 2009 - 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.
President Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia, on April 12, 1945, and Vice President Harry Truman became President. Germany surrendered to the Allied Command on May 7, 1945, and Sarasota celebrated. Japan surrendered unconditionally on August 15, 1945, after atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
During the winter of 1945-46, 40,000 winter visitors came to Sarasota, more than ever before. The housing shortage became acute because many of the servicemen were still here despite the ending of hostilities. The boom had begun.
The Trail Drive-in Theater, one of the first in Florida, opened in 1949 across from the Sarasota/Bradenton Airport. It held 780 cars; the projector was 245 feet from the 65’x47’ screen. It was family entertainment. First run movies were shown and the snack bar served chicken and shrimp dinners.
In 1949-1950, 500 houses, five churches, thirty-five stores, ten apartment houses, seven motels, two fire stations and a new radio station were built. Paver Park Homes were advertised for $2,500 down, $50/month.
Sarasota started its effort to become a center for the arts when the Circus Museum opened and the West Coast Symphony was established in 1949. There was an arcade on the pier at the end of Main Street with a pool full of tropical fish. You could buy fresh caught kingfish from Captain Anderson at $1 a pop when he docked to bring a group of deep-sea fisherman back on land.
The two blocks at the end of Main Street were known as “down town” and had several restaurants and lounges with entertainment. Famous artists and writers lived in Sarasota. St. Armand’s Key was alive with elite stores. You could swim, play volley ball on the beach and dance to the music of Rudy Bundy at the Lido Casino, often featuring Lenny Dee.
There were circus shows at the Ringling Hotel on U. S. 41, and Hollywood was here filming “The Greatest Show on Earth.” In fact, there were 15 circus companies with headquarters in Sarasota and more circus people were living here than in any other place in the world.
A group of architects who later became famous came to Sarasota in the early 1950’s led by Ralph Twitchell and including Paul Rudolph, Victor Lundy, Tim Siebert, Jack West and the developer, Philip Hiss.
John D. MacDonald, author and environmentalist, moved to Siesta Key in 1950. He wrote 75 novels, a number of which were the very popular ”Travis McGee” mystery series.
Sarasota was a bustling slice of Paradise in 1951.
(To Be Continued)..
(C) Copyright, 2009 - Leland Desmon.
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Monday, March 16, 2009
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (30th in a series)
The year was 1938, Franklin D. Roosevelt had been reelected President of the United States and Sarasota was the beneficiary of WPA projects for much of its employment.
Potter and Honore Palmer donated 2,000 acres of Bertha Palmers ‘Meadow Sweet Pastures’ ranch for a state park, a gift which became the core of the Myakka State Park. Hundreds of persons were employed constructing roads, building cabins and more. Improvements to the Osprey Avenue bridge, the construction of city sidewalks, and the development of Luke Wood Park were all WPA projects.
Construction of the Lido Beach casino as a WPA project was approved by the government on June 13, 1938 with the proviso that the city contribute $40,000 in cash and donate the land. Thirteen hundred feet of beach frontage was obtained from the Ringling Estate in a tax debt settlement; a $40,000 bond issue was floated and sold out within days. The casino formally opened on December 27, 1940. Nobody knows the total cost of the facility, but it was referred to as “The Quarter Million Dollar Casino.” Thousands of servicemen from the Sarasota and Venice air bases visited it often.
The Sarasota-Manatee airport was another WPA project that benefitted Sarasota significantly. In July 1940 the War Department approved the airport as a part of the National Defense Plan and additional grants came rapidly during 1940.
In March 1942, Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses belonging to the 97th Bomb Group arrived for six weeks of final training. There were no barracks, tents were erected for sleeping and eating. Kerosene lanterns were used for much of the illumination. The 97th Bomb Group log read, “Three days of steady rain necessitated the use of palmettos for the construction of corduroy roads to permit entry to dispersal points.”
At the peak of the field’s operation, more than 3,000 men were stationed here. Captain Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay that delivered the first atomic bomb to Hiroshima was one of the first flight instructors at the airport.
On December 7, 1941, a total of 353 Japanese bombers, launched from six aircraft carriers, attacked the U.S. Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, sinking 10 warships, destroying 188 aircraft and killing 2400 personnel. President Roosevelt called it, “A date which will live in infamy,” and the United States declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941.
This surprise attack changed the U.S. public opinion from isolationist to participant. Before the war ended, 6300 Sarasota County men and women had registered for the draft. The population of Sarasota County in 1940 was only 16,106.
(To Be Continued)..
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Potter and Honore Palmer donated 2,000 acres of Bertha Palmers ‘Meadow Sweet Pastures’ ranch for a state park, a gift which became the core of the Myakka State Park. Hundreds of persons were employed constructing roads, building cabins and more. Improvements to the Osprey Avenue bridge, the construction of city sidewalks, and the development of Luke Wood Park were all WPA projects.
Construction of the Lido Beach casino as a WPA project was approved by the government on June 13, 1938 with the proviso that the city contribute $40,000 in cash and donate the land. Thirteen hundred feet of beach frontage was obtained from the Ringling Estate in a tax debt settlement; a $40,000 bond issue was floated and sold out within days. The casino formally opened on December 27, 1940. Nobody knows the total cost of the facility, but it was referred to as “The Quarter Million Dollar Casino.” Thousands of servicemen from the Sarasota and Venice air bases visited it often.
The Sarasota-Manatee airport was another WPA project that benefitted Sarasota significantly. In July 1940 the War Department approved the airport as a part of the National Defense Plan and additional grants came rapidly during 1940.
In March 1942, Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses belonging to the 97th Bomb Group arrived for six weeks of final training. There were no barracks, tents were erected for sleeping and eating. Kerosene lanterns were used for much of the illumination. The 97th Bomb Group log read, “Three days of steady rain necessitated the use of palmettos for the construction of corduroy roads to permit entry to dispersal points.”
At the peak of the field’s operation, more than 3,000 men were stationed here. Captain Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay that delivered the first atomic bomb to Hiroshima was one of the first flight instructors at the airport.
On December 7, 1941, a total of 353 Japanese bombers, launched from six aircraft carriers, attacked the U.S. Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, sinking 10 warships, destroying 188 aircraft and killing 2400 personnel. President Roosevelt called it, “A date which will live in infamy,” and the United States declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941.
This surprise attack changed the U.S. public opinion from isolationist to participant. Before the war ended, 6300 Sarasota County men and women had registered for the draft. The population of Sarasota County in 1940 was only 16,106.
(To Be Continued)..
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Wednesday, February 11, 2009
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (29th in a series)
The nation was in the depths of a depression on March 4, 1933, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States of America.
Sarasota was fortunate that the Boston Red Sox chose it as their spring training site. Tourists escaping from the northern winter cold came to see them play.
Sarasota was fortunate that the Boston Red Sox chose it as their spring training site. Tourists escaping from the northern winter cold came to see them play.
Fred Albee opened his Florida Medical Center in the former Park View Hotel in Venice. His patients ate nutritious food from his farms and groves and ice cream from his dairy.
March 9th, Congress passed the Federal Emergency Relief Act which expired in two years to be replaced by the Works Project Act (WPA). In 1935 it provided jobs for ¾ of the nation’s “heads of the household”. Sarasota received $131,465 from the WPA to work on ten area projects. This sum provided employment for 294 men in the city, 114 men in the county, and a total of 87 women throughout the area. In addition, work crews of the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) were kept busy for six years at Myakka State Park.
Booker High School, Sarasota’s first high school that admitted Negroes, graduated its first class of four in 1935.
John Ringling (right), the last of the five Ringling brothers, died on December 2, 1936. He was 60 years old. In his will he bequeathed his home, Ca' d Zan, and the Ringling Museum of Arts to the State of Florida. At his death, John was so deeply in debt that it took ten years to settle the estate.
In 1937, the city bought the property now called Bayfront Park from the defunct Sarasota Bay Hotel Co. by purchasing tax certificates valued at $15,000. The WPA put $131,000 into the project which made possible the construction of Bayfront Park and the Municipal Auditorium. The Auditorium opened on February 24, 1938 for the Sara de Soto Celebration. Three thousand people attended.
Today’s Sarasota/Manatee International Airport started as a small landing strip named Lowes Field. It was the destination for swim meets, gymnastics, music, shopping and dining before it went out of existence in 1969. It was Sarasota’s first municipal airport. On July 15, 1937, National Airlines was authorized to provide passenger and mail service from Lowes field. One daily northbound flight to Tampa and St. Petersburg, and one daily southbound flight to Ft. Myers and Miami were scheduled.
Sarasota was one of only 275 cities in the nation with airmail service. The aircraft was a single engine Stinson; the runways were grass. Unfortunately, however, the city was informed that National would soon cease operations until the runways were improved. Summer rains often made takeoffs and landings impossible.
The airport became a WPA project and work began on September 1938 with 15 men. By the end of November, 317 men were working on the improvements. Unskilled labor was paid 31 cents/hour, semi-skilled 37 cents/hour, and skilled labor 48 cents/hour. The airport grew to 640 acres and 300 of the workers lived in the Sarasota/Manatee area, futher aiding the local economy.
The city of Sarasota had 16,106 residents.
(To Be Continued)..
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Monday, January 12, 2009
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (28th in a series)
The year 1929 saw Sarasota in a deep depression. The population of the county was 12,200. Telephone subscribers dropped from 2662 to 1689. Pure pork sausage sold for 10 cents a pound, sirloin steak for 15 cents per pound.
The Ringling Causeway was in such a state of disrepair that it was closed until the city found sufficient funds to pay the labor cost for 50 men who worked on it for a month. The materials were donated.
Powell Crosley Jr. bought a 63-acre bay front property in Sarasota for $35,000 at auction. It had sold for $365,000 to a developer in 1925. He built an 11,000 square foot estate residence with 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and called it Seagate.
Mr. Crosley owned an Automotive Accessories Company, a mail order auto parts company whose sales consisted mostly of thousands of five American flags in a holder that attached to the radiator cap. He also started the Crosley Radio Company in 1920 when his son wanted a radio, a new gadget that cost $130. Crosley bought a book on radios, learned how to make a crystal set and sold thousands at $9.00 each. They were called Harkos, and Crosley was called the Henry Ford of radio. In 1923 he built the 28th radio station in the U.S. with call letters WLW. It had a 500,000 watt transmitter and it was said that it could be heard anywhere on earth.
Crosley marketed the Shelvador electric refrigerator in 1932, the first with shelves in the door. The inscription on front of it read: Crosley/Shelvador/made in USA.
The Cincinnati Reds baseball team was struggling to survive in 1934. Powell Crosley bought the team, installed lights on the playing field, and the Reds played seven games “under the lights.” Attendance was ten times that for a normal day game.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as the 32ND President of the United States in March 1933 and instituted a special session of Congress to pass a make-work program called the “New Deal”. On Saturday, December 2, 1933, the Conservation Corps (CCC) one of 21 New Deal programs, distributed 641 checks in Sarasota totaling $4,775, an average of just over $7.00 per worker.
(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.
The Ringling Causeway was in such a state of disrepair that it was closed until the city found sufficient funds to pay the labor cost for 50 men who worked on it for a month. The materials were donated.
Powell Crosley Jr. bought a 63-acre bay front property in Sarasota for $35,000 at auction. It had sold for $365,000 to a developer in 1925. He built an 11,000 square foot estate residence with 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and called it Seagate.
Mr. Crosley owned an Automotive Accessories Company, a mail order auto parts company whose sales consisted mostly of thousands of five American flags in a holder that attached to the radiator cap. He also started the Crosley Radio Company in 1920 when his son wanted a radio, a new gadget that cost $130. Crosley bought a book on radios, learned how to make a crystal set and sold thousands at $9.00 each. They were called Harkos, and Crosley was called the Henry Ford of radio. In 1923 he built the 28th radio station in the U.S. with call letters WLW. It had a 500,000 watt transmitter and it was said that it could be heard anywhere on earth.
Crosley marketed the Shelvador electric refrigerator in 1932, the first with shelves in the door. The inscription on front of it read: Crosley/Shelvador/made in USA.
The Cincinnati Reds baseball team was struggling to survive in 1934. Powell Crosley bought the team, installed lights on the playing field, and the Reds played seven games “under the lights.” Attendance was ten times that for a normal day game.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as the 32ND President of the United States in March 1933 and instituted a special session of Congress to pass a make-work program called the “New Deal”. On Saturday, December 2, 1933, the Conservation Corps (CCC) one of 21 New Deal programs, distributed 641 checks in Sarasota totaling $4,775, an average of just over $7.00 per worker.
(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.
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (27th in a series)
In mid-June, 1927, the Sarasota City Council passed an ordinance “prohibiting the showing of moving pictures, plays, vaudeville-acts or other amusements on Sundays”: I suppose that ordinance affected visits to the circus winter quarters, Sarasota’s number one tourist attraction. I wonder whose job it was to police this illegality and how much he was paid to do it.
Also in 1927, John Ringling hired John H. Phillips to design the Ringling Museum of Art to house
his vast collection of paintings collected during tours of Europe. (Phillips was the architect who designed the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art). Thousand year old marble columns were imported from Greece and wall foundations from Italy to be used in its construction.
In March, the Sarasota-Palmbee Highway, the first cross-state highway south of Tampa, was opened to traffic. It passed through the towns of Arcadia and Okeechobee on its way to the east coast. It is presently known as State Route 70.
The city fathers purchased a 290 acre tract of land from the trustees of the Palmer estate and hired Donald J. Ross to design an 18-hole golf course. In February, 1928 the golf course was opened to the public. In an exhibition game, a foursome composed of Bobby Jones and Louis Landcaster defeated Watts Gun and Jim Senter. Jones shot a 73 and was given a new Pierce Arrow automobile. Fifteen hundred golfers were in attendance. Although the course was named after Jones to “give it prestige”, some thought it should have been named after Sir John Hamilton Gillespie, Sarasota’s first golfer. Gillespie died of a heart attack while walking on a course of his own design four years earlier.
Sarasota's Property values dropped to “normal” levels in 1928. The future looked OK, and Sarasota’s first radio station, owned by the Chamber of Commerce with call letters WJBB, went on the air. It sent citrus baskets to the furthest listener of the day. Hawaii and Saskatchewan listeners were recipients. The Nye Odorless Crematory Co. of Macon, Georgia built and put into operation an incinerator to consume Sarasota’s garbage and trash. Whew!
The stock market crashed in October 1929.
Building permits that had totaled $4.5 million in 1925 dropped to $83,596 in 1929. The depression had begun; the number of winter visitors dropped to a very few; citrus rotted on the trees, and mullet brought less than one cent per pound.
John Ringling’s Sarasota bank closed; he ran out of money and credit; Mabel Ringling died at the age of 54. John was a broken man.
(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.
Also in 1927, John Ringling hired John H. Phillips to design the Ringling Museum of Art to house
his vast collection of paintings collected during tours of Europe. (Phillips was the architect who designed the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art). Thousand year old marble columns were imported from Greece and wall foundations from Italy to be used in its construction.In March, the Sarasota-Palmbee Highway, the first cross-state highway south of Tampa, was opened to traffic. It passed through the towns of Arcadia and Okeechobee on its way to the east coast. It is presently known as State Route 70.
The city fathers purchased a 290 acre tract of land from the trustees of the Palmer estate and hired Donald J. Ross to design an 18-hole golf course. In February, 1928 the golf course was opened to the public. In an exhibition game, a foursome composed of Bobby Jones and Louis Landcaster defeated Watts Gun and Jim Senter. Jones shot a 73 and was given a new Pierce Arrow automobile. Fifteen hundred golfers were in attendance. Although the course was named after Jones to “give it prestige”, some thought it should have been named after Sir John Hamilton Gillespie, Sarasota’s first golfer. Gillespie died of a heart attack while walking on a course of his own design four years earlier.
Sarasota's Property values dropped to “normal” levels in 1928. The future looked OK, and Sarasota’s first radio station, owned by the Chamber of Commerce with call letters WJBB, went on the air. It sent citrus baskets to the furthest listener of the day. Hawaii and Saskatchewan listeners were recipients. The Nye Odorless Crematory Co. of Macon, Georgia built and put into operation an incinerator to consume Sarasota’s garbage and trash. Whew!
The stock market crashed in October 1929.
Building permits that had totaled $4.5 million in 1925 dropped to $83,596 in 1929. The depression had begun; the number of winter visitors dropped to a very few; citrus rotted on the trees, and mullet brought less than one cent per pound.
John Ringling’s Sarasota bank closed; he ran out of money and credit; Mabel Ringling died at the age of 54. John was a broken man.
(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.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (26th in a series)
Occupational licenses in Sarasota rose from 139 in 1923 to 1,057 in 1925. The “Members of Commerce” list rose from 125 to 2,430. The A.S. Skinner Co. real estate organization grew from 23 to 66 salesmen in 18 months. It was said that they all wore knickers and were called the ’Knickerbocker Men’. They claimed $40 million in sales in 1925.
Sarasota’s first public hospital opened on the corner of 3rd Street and Goodrich. It had a patient capacity of six. In 1926, A.B. Edwards built the finest theater on the west coast of Florida at a cost of $350,000. Fifteen hundred people were in attendance on opening night, April 19, 1925. The silent black and white movie was “Skinner’s Dress Suit”, a comedy starring Hedda Hopper, Reginald Denny and Laura LaPlante.
Ringling had spent $650,000 on the Ritz Carlton project when it became apparent that buyers for property at these inflated prices were rapidly disappearing; the massive hurricane of September 17, 1926 burst Sarasota’s real estate boom. The list of millionaires dwindled down to four. The 69 square mile area that the city had been extended to in 1925 proved to be more than the economy could sustain and the council agreed, 974 to 31, to a more appropriate 17 square miles.
Although work had stopped on the Ritz Carlton, John Ringling refused to give up. He bought the magnificent El Verona Hotel, renamed it the John Ringling Hotel, and installed the circus’s seven foot giant as the doorman, complete with a gold colored uniform and brass buttons.
To help Sarasota weather the storm, Ringling announced on March 23, 1927 that he would move the winter quarters of the circus from Bridgeport, Connecticut to Sarasota. This required spending at least $500,000 just for the buildings. During the first week in November, 100 railroad cars arrived in Sarasota with elephants, lions, gorillas (Gargantua and Mlle. M’Toto) and more. Dozens of performers and their families came too. The circus grounds were opened to the public on Christmas Day 1927. This attraction helped make Sarasota a tourist destination.
AN ASIDE
One day in October 1924, an unkempt couple moved into a shanty on Sarasota’s coastal area. A few days later the man showed a neighbor some gold coins and hinted he had found a buried treasure chest. The next day he bought a new car, some new clothes and then the couple disappeared. Who were they? Did they really find a treasure chest?
The pirate Jean Lafitte is known to have operated in the Gulf of Mexico, captured more than 100 vessels of all nations, and even buried Napoleon’s treasure somewhere along the gulf coast.
In 1926, a syndicate spent thousands of dollars searching for Lafitte’s buried treasure, to no avail.
(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.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (25th in a series)
In previous episodes, we revealed little about Harry Higel, one of early Sarasota’s foremost citizens. He was mayor when Sarasota was incorporated as a city in 1913. He constantly fought for progress including being first to plat Siesta Key in 1907. On January 7, 1921, he was found brutally beaten and left to die in the middle of Beach Road. A reward of $1,000 was offered for evidence to convict. Although a suspect was identified, the evidence was circumstantial and the reward was never claimed.
On May 1, 1925, an eight page newspaper size advertisement entitled “Sarasota on the Gulf” was published and widely distributed. It stated, “Fortunes have been made overnight in Sarasota” and included articles to prove it. “Jim Bishop, a fisherman, sold a lot on Longboat Key for $30,000 and retired.” “Senator Park Trammell made a profit of over $10,000 on an initial investment of $750. Widows who had been land poor bought player pianos. Dozens of Similar articles appeared.
During the month of October 1925 real estate sales in Sarasota exceeded 11 million dollars.
Starting in 1923, John Ringling employed three huge dredges to make solid land of mangrove islands creating St. Armand’s, Lido and the southern end of Longboat Key. Sewer and water lines were installed, canals were dredged and roads were built. A causeway that cost $750,000 was built to connect the area with the mainland. The day that the causeway opened, February 7, 1026, Ringling Estates reported real estate sales exceeding one million dollars.
In 1925, Dr. Fred Albee purchased 2,916 acres south of Sarasota from the Palmer Real Estate Sales Group. He employed John Nolan, a respected city planner to design a city to be called Venice, a model city that would attract the elite.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) built the Cooperative National Bank of Cleveland, Ohio to increase pensions for their members. Profits grew by a million dollars per month and they sought property in Florida for an investment.
Based upon the fact that the Seaboard Airline Railway accessed the area, and that it fronted on the Gulf of Mexico, the BLE decided to buy Dr. Albee’s holdings in 1925. They retained John Nolan and planned to build Venice, the ‘Queen of the Gulf’ in a period of three years. Retirees would buy farms complete with a house built and crops planted.
The BLE spent $500,000 per month developing the property. There were sidewalks, gutters, storm sewers, six miles of graded streets, a new train station and an operating water plant. There was a 40 acre demonstration farm, a 160 acre dairy farm, 188 residences, 141 apartment units and 83 stores.
In the summer of 1927 a BLE audit committee discovered that the project had lost $3.4 million by June 30 and projected that if the remaining property were sold at the same price-to-expense ratio, more losses would be incurred. Four top officers of the BLE were removed and it was voted to get out of Venice as quickly as possible.
(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.
On May 1, 1925, an eight page newspaper size advertisement entitled “Sarasota on the Gulf” was published and widely distributed. It stated, “Fortunes have been made overnight in Sarasota” and included articles to prove it. “Jim Bishop, a fisherman, sold a lot on Longboat Key for $30,000 and retired.” “Senator Park Trammell made a profit of over $10,000 on an initial investment of $750. Widows who had been land poor bought player pianos. Dozens of Similar articles appeared.
During the month of October 1925 real estate sales in Sarasota exceeded 11 million dollars.
Starting in 1923, John Ringling employed three huge dredges to make solid land of mangrove islands creating St. Armand’s, Lido and the southern end of Longboat Key. Sewer and water lines were installed, canals were dredged and roads were built. A causeway that cost $750,000 was built to connect the area with the mainland. The day that the causeway opened, February 7, 1026, Ringling Estates reported real estate sales exceeding one million dollars.
In 1925, Dr. Fred Albee purchased 2,916 acres south of Sarasota from the Palmer Real Estate Sales Group. He employed John Nolan, a respected city planner to design a city to be called Venice, a model city that would attract the elite.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) built the Cooperative National Bank of Cleveland, Ohio to increase pensions for their members. Profits grew by a million dollars per month and they sought property in Florida for an investment.
Based upon the fact that the Seaboard Airline Railway accessed the area, and that it fronted on the Gulf of Mexico, the BLE decided to buy Dr. Albee’s holdings in 1925. They retained John Nolan and planned to build Venice, the ‘Queen of the Gulf’ in a period of three years. Retirees would buy farms complete with a house built and crops planted.
The BLE spent $500,000 per month developing the property. There were sidewalks, gutters, storm sewers, six miles of graded streets, a new train station and an operating water plant. There was a 40 acre demonstration farm, a 160 acre dairy farm, 188 residences, 141 apartment units and 83 stores.
In the summer of 1927 a BLE audit committee discovered that the project had lost $3.4 million by June 30 and projected that if the remaining property were sold at the same price-to-expense ratio, more losses would be incurred. Four top officers of the BLE were removed and it was voted to get out of Venice as quickly as possible.
(To Be Continued)..
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Monday, September 22, 2008
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (24th in a series)
In the last issue of “Settling” it was written that as a result of WWI Sarasota had entered into a period of prosperity; It had not experienced anything like this before. The city purchased and improved the electric plant of the Sarasota Ice and Electric Co. Main Street was lighted at night, appliance stores opened and the citizens bought electrical appliances.
A 279-acre bay front parcel of a land that Bertha Palmer had purchased in 1915 was sold in 1921 for $120,000, resold to a Lakeland group of investors for $279,000, and sold again one month later to a Tampa corporation for $450,000. A 63 acre parcel, about 1/4 of that, was subsequently sold for $365,000. This parcel, Sea Gate, was purchased by Powell Crosley in 1929 for $35,000.
Real Estate offices opened throughout downtown. The A.S. Skinner Co., a real estate sales organization, had a sales force of 66 employees. Schools, churches, banks, restaurants and theaters were being built. In 1925, real estate sales in the city of Sarasota topped 11 million dollars.
The city council decided that what Sarasota lacked was a really first class hotel for “big-city” investors to stay in. The council wooed Andrew McAnsh, a Scotsman who grew up in Chicago where he became involved in politics, prospered in business and built many large apartments. He arrived in Sarasota in 1922 and organized the Mira Mar Corporation for the purpose of developing properties.
The city agreed that if Mr. McAnsh would build a first class hotel, an apartment building and an auditorium it would provide free water and electricity and not levy taxes on the properties for a period of ten years. Of course he accepted!
McAnsh started work on the Mira Mar Apartments on October 6, 1922 and the apartments were ready for occupancy by January 1, 1923. This resulted in McAnsh being called the 60-day wonder. Returning from a business trip to Chicago, his train was met at Rubonia with a brass band parade that escorted him to Sarasota. The Mira Mar Hotel and the Mira Mar Auditorium were started in July 1923 and both were completed within six months.
In November 1925 a new charter extending city limits to include 69 square miles was signed by the Governor. The original township of Sarasota had an area of 2 square miles.
The John Ringling causeway, a wood planked bridge, was built in 1925-26 to provide access to his real estate properties that included St. Armand’s, Bird, Lido and Longboat Keys. On the day that the causeway was formally opened, February 7, 1926, a band from Czecho-Slovakia played two concerts on St. Armand’s Key. Sales of properties at their Ringling estates that day were said to exceed one million dollars.
Some events of significance apart from the real estate boom that occurred during this period are:
· September 27, 1923 had been declared Public Works Day during which a baseball diamond was prepared at Payne Park for the New York Giants. The Giants began spring training there in 1924.- · Sarasota Hospital moved from temporary quarters at Third and Goodrich to Hawthorne and the Tamiami Trail.
- · Emma Booker, an African American began teaching blacks in 1918 in rooms rented in the Knights of Pythias Hall.
The children used orange crates for desks and books discarded from white schools. She did not have a degree to teach but spent every summer for 20 years going to school. She finished high school and earned a B.S. degree before she died in 1939.
(To Be Continued)..
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Wednesday, September 3, 2008
SETTLING SARASOTA (23rd in a series)
With Mrs. Potter Palmer’s purchase of 80,000 acres of property in and around Sarasota, Sarasota became the focus for winter visitors and persons of wealth. The town population was 840 and increasing rapidly.
The Sarasota-Venice Co. was set up by the Palmers to develop and sell property. The Bee Ridge area was touted as excellent for farming vegetables and was the first sold in 1911. Mrs. Palmer established Meadow Sweet Pastures, a model cattle breeding ranch in the Myakka Lake region. She bought prize bulls and started a program of cattle dipping to eliminate ticks and the diseases they caused. Prior to that, ranchers thought that “dipping” would kill the cows.
A 30-year franchise to produce electricity had been granted in 1909, but no street lights had been placed until two puny ones, one at Five Points and the other at the intersection of Main Street and Palm Avenue were installed in 1911. Lights were turned on from dusk to midnight every night except on moonlit nights. There was no power available during the day until the company finally agreed to provide ‘breakfast light,’ from 4:00 until 6:00 a.m. – that’s all! Of course, service improved later.
On Saturday night November 12, 1910, movies were shown in a tent set up at the foot of Main Street. It was an event heralded for weeks before the show. The tent was packed and people waited outside for the next performance. A gramophone provided sound.
The year 1911 was a period of great activity. The Citizens Bank of Sarasota was organized and opened for business. Mr. and Mrs. Honore, Mrs. Palmer’s uncle and aunt, built a large home, the Acacias on Yellow Bluffs. The Sarasota Yacht Club was revived.
A $20,000 bond issue for building a water works and a sewage system was approved, 57 votes for to 35 against.
A contract was let to drill an artesian well and lay water and sewer lines. The sewer discharge line was extended 400 feet into the bay. Conditions were improving.
Unfortunately, however, cows, pigs, and goats roamed wherever they pleased. They drank from the fountain at Five Points, wallowed in mud puddles and slept under houses. Cowpokes came into town on Saturday night, got ‘likkered-up,’ raced their ponies on Main Street and shot at unwary dogs.
Fortunately, Hamden S. Smith was elected mayor and provided the impetus for passage of Ordinance #51 that penalized the owners of animals grazing within town limits. The cattlemen threatened but the ordinance passed and the cattlemen’s domination was over.
Sarasota was growing.
(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.
The Sarasota-Venice Co. was set up by the Palmers to develop and sell property. The Bee Ridge area was touted as excellent for farming vegetables and was the first sold in 1911. Mrs. Palmer established Meadow Sweet Pastures, a model cattle breeding ranch in the Myakka Lake region. She bought prize bulls and started a program of cattle dipping to eliminate ticks and the diseases they caused. Prior to that, ranchers thought that “dipping” would kill the cows.
A 30-year franchise to produce electricity had been granted in 1909, but no street lights had been placed until two puny ones, one at Five Points and the other at the intersection of Main Street and Palm Avenue were installed in 1911. Lights were turned on from dusk to midnight every night except on moonlit nights. There was no power available during the day until the company finally agreed to provide ‘breakfast light,’ from 4:00 until 6:00 a.m. – that’s all! Of course, service improved later.
On Saturday night November 12, 1910, movies were shown in a tent set up at the foot of Main Street. It was an event heralded for weeks before the show. The tent was packed and people waited outside for the next performance. A gramophone provided sound.
The year 1911 was a period of great activity. The Citizens Bank of Sarasota was organized and opened for business. Mr. and Mrs. Honore, Mrs. Palmer’s uncle and aunt, built a large home, the Acacias on Yellow Bluffs. The Sarasota Yacht Club was revived.
A $20,000 bond issue for building a water works and a sewage system was approved, 57 votes for to 35 against.
A contract was let to drill an artesian well and lay water and sewer lines. The sewer discharge line was extended 400 feet into the bay. Conditions were improving.
Unfortunately, however, cows, pigs, and goats roamed wherever they pleased. They drank from the fountain at Five Points, wallowed in mud puddles and slept under houses. Cowpokes came into town on Saturday night, got ‘likkered-up,’ raced their ponies on Main Street and shot at unwary dogs.
Fortunately, Hamden S. Smith was elected mayor and provided the impetus for passage of Ordinance #51 that penalized the owners of animals grazing within town limits. The cattlemen threatened but the ordinance passed and the cattlemen’s domination was over.
Sarasota was growing.
(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.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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.
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.
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.
Picture courtesy of Wikipedia
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
* 80,000 acres = 125 square miles
(Continued)..
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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.
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.
Monday, August 25, 2008
SETTLING SARASOTA (20th in a series)
This column begins with a story of an "accident" that changed a man’s life. Leonard Reid, an African-American, sailed aboard a fishing boat out of Savanna bound for Cuba. The boat stopped in Sarasota on New Year’ Eve 1900 to resupply. Reid found a party underway ashore and when it ended he returned to the dock to find that his ride had departed. A fisherman introduced the penniless Reid to "Colonel" Hamilton Gillespie who hired him on the spot. Reid became a lifelong member of the Gillespie household, and years later became a founding member of the Payne Chapel AME Church.
In 1907, Sarasota’s four elected aldermen legislated 26 rules and procedures regarding the conduct of all citizens. Persons could be imprisoned for profanity, blocking the sidewalk, or driving a wagon over a bridge faster than a walk. T.F. Blair was elected Marshall and expected to enforce these ordinances. No calaboose existed!
At the third regularly scheduled meeting of the council, Harry Higel and George Blackburn were appointed to get plans and estimates, Mayor Gillespie advanced $200 for construction and he selected the site. W.F. Rigby bid $105 to build it.
Sarasota’s spell of prosperity began to falter in 1905 along with the nation-wide depression of 1907. Also in 1907, the state legislature gave the town the right to issue bonds. Sarasota’s first bond election was held on December 1, 1908 and a $25,000 issue for street paving was approved 46 to 16. This was no small accomplishment as cattlemen and fishermen had "ruled the roost" until now. A $5,000 sewer bond was defeated 23 to 26, however.
All the bonds were sold by the end of February 1909 and a 20-foot pavement was laid on Main Street from Gulf Stream to Orange Avenues, a 16-foot to Osprey Avenue and a 10-foot pavement to the Corporate Line.
Also in 1908 newlyweds Marie and William Selby honeymooned at the Belle Haven Hotel. In addition to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, their philanthropic contributions to Sarasota are many.
In 1909 Badger’s Pharmacy and Jewelry store was the gathering place for Sarasotans to discuss politics and exchange gossip.
Harry Higel, an outstanding progressive, organized Sarasota’s first yacht club in 1907. The clubhouse was built on the north end of Siesta Key, formerly known as Sarasota Key. The club had its grand opening early in November with a shore dinner consisting of clam chowder and other seafood specialties. There were eleven charter members, most of whom didn’t even own a rowboat.
On Thursday, November 5, fire broke out in the Bay View Hotel on the corner of Main and Palm. Everyone rushed to the scene. There was no volunteer fire department, no hose, and no central water supply. The building burned to the ground.
Miraculously, the flames did not spread to other buildings.
(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.
In 1907, Sarasota’s four elected aldermen legislated 26 rules and procedures regarding the conduct of all citizens. Persons could be imprisoned for profanity, blocking the sidewalk, or driving a wagon over a bridge faster than a walk. T.F. Blair was elected Marshall and expected to enforce these ordinances. No calaboose existed!
At the third regularly scheduled meeting of the council, Harry Higel and George Blackburn were appointed to get plans and estimates, Mayor Gillespie advanced $200 for construction and he selected the site. W.F. Rigby bid $105 to build it.
Sarasota’s spell of prosperity began to falter in 1905 along with the nation-wide depression of 1907. Also in 1907, the state legislature gave the town the right to issue bonds. Sarasota’s first bond election was held on December 1, 1908 and a $25,000 issue for street paving was approved 46 to 16. This was no small accomplishment as cattlemen and fishermen had "ruled the roost" until now. A $5,000 sewer bond was defeated 23 to 26, however.
All the bonds were sold by the end of February 1909 and a 20-foot pavement was laid on Main Street from Gulf Stream to Orange Avenues, a 16-foot to Osprey Avenue and a 10-foot pavement to the Corporate Line.
Also in 1908 newlyweds Marie and William Selby honeymooned at the Belle Haven Hotel. In addition to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, their philanthropic contributions to Sarasota are many.
In 1909 Badger’s Pharmacy and Jewelry store was the gathering place for Sarasotans to discuss politics and exchange gossip.
Harry Higel, an outstanding progressive, organized Sarasota’s first yacht club in 1907. The clubhouse was built on the north end of Siesta Key, formerly known as Sarasota Key. The club had its grand opening early in November with a shore dinner consisting of clam chowder and other seafood specialties. There were eleven charter members, most of whom didn’t even own a rowboat.On Thursday, November 5, fire broke out in the Bay View Hotel on the corner of Main and Palm. Everyone rushed to the scene. There was no volunteer fire department, no hose, and no central water supply. The building burned to the ground.
Miraculously, the flames did not spread to other buildings.
(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.
SETTLING SARASOTA (19th in a series)
It was late fall in 1903 and better things were happening in the Town of Sarasota. The U.S. dredge Suwannee completed a channel from Sarasota Bay to Vince at a cost to the federal government of $50,000. Freight boats began scheduled trips helping the economy.
More families moved into Sarasota and the two-room school on 8th Street became over crowded. Parents appealed to the Manatee County school board to take prompt action. (Sarasota was still in Manatee County.) The estimated cost of the new building was $3,500 and the school board offered $2,000 if Sarasota would come up with the extra $1,500 and provide the lot. The required funds were pledged in less than a week.
The two-story schoolhouse was built on Main street during the summer of 1904 and it opened on September 19th with an enrollment of 114 students. Three teachers were employed initially and a fourth was added after Christmas.
Dr. Jack Halton, Sarasota’s first physician arrived on Thanksgiving Day in 1904. He liked the town so much that he returned to Muncie, Indiana where he had his office, got his family, and was back in Sarasota right after Christmas.
After opening his office he appeared before the town council and declared that the town’s lack of sewers was a disgrace. He said that the stench from the Belle Haven Inn, the town’s deluxe hotel was so nauseating that he had been unable to finish eating a meal in the hotel’s dining room. The item became a newspaper headline and the council ordered the hotel manager to install adequate cesspools or close the place.
J. H. Lord built the town’s first sewer from the Sarasota House out into the Bay. Merchants on the north side of Main Street were allowed to tap into it for a fee.
Mayor Gillespie was a busy man at this time. He had just married Blanche McDaniel, built the town’s first 9-hole golf course on a 110-acre tract of land, and convinced the First National Bank of Manatee to open a branch in Sarasota. A two-story concrete block building was built on the southwest corner of Main and Pineapple; the bank opened in a corner room in October.
The wooden building occupied by the post office and telephone exchange that had been in that spot, was pushed out into Main street and continued operating during construction of the block building.
Gillespie convinced J. Louis Houle to set up a plant on sixth and Lemon to make the cement blocks. Houle drilled an 8-inch artesian well 490 feet deep to provide the water needed. The town purchased the well as a source of municipal water later.
The post office and telephone exchange moved into the block building.
All that activity shows what marriage can do for a guy!
More families moved into Sarasota and the two-room school on 8th Street became over crowded. Parents appealed to the Manatee County school board to take prompt action. (Sarasota was still in Manatee County.) The estimated cost of the new building was $3,500 and the school board offered $2,000 if Sarasota would come up with the extra $1,500 and provide the lot. The required funds were pledged in less than a week.
The two-story schoolhouse was built on Main street during the summer of 1904 and it opened on September 19th with an enrollment of 114 students. Three teachers were employed initially and a fourth was added after Christmas.
Dr. Jack Halton, Sarasota’s first physician arrived on Thanksgiving Day in 1904. He liked the town so much that he returned to Muncie, Indiana where he had his office, got his family, and was back in Sarasota right after Christmas.
After opening his office he appeared before the town council and declared that the town’s lack of sewers was a disgrace. He said that the stench from the Belle Haven Inn, the town’s deluxe hotel was so nauseating that he had been unable to finish eating a meal in the hotel’s dining room. The item became a newspaper headline and the council ordered the hotel manager to install adequate cesspools or close the place.
J. H. Lord built the town’s first sewer from the Sarasota House out into the Bay. Merchants on the north side of Main Street were allowed to tap into it for a fee.
Mayor Gillespie was a busy man at this time. He had just married Blanche McDaniel, built the town’s first 9-hole golf course on a 110-acre tract of land, and convinced the First National Bank of Manatee to open a branch in Sarasota. A two-story concrete block building was built on the southwest corner of Main and Pineapple; the bank opened in a corner room in October.
The wooden building occupied by the post office and telephone exchange that had been in that spot, was pushed out into Main street and continued operating during construction of the block building.
Gillespie convinced J. Louis Houle to set up a plant on sixth and Lemon to make the cement blocks. Houle drilled an 8-inch artesian well 490 feet deep to provide the water needed. The town purchased the well as a source of municipal water later.
The post office and telephone exchange moved into the block building.
All that activity shows what marriage can do for a guy!
"Belle Haven Inn, Sarasota, Fla." Published by the Curt Teich Company in 1914. Photo by T.F. Arnold.
(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.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
SETTLING SARASOTA (18th in a series)
The previous installment of Settling of Sarasota told of the incorporation of the Town of Sarasota on October 20,1902. John Hamilton Gillespie was elected its first mayor by the will of all 53 voters.
On February 11, 1903, Gillespie, the on-site official of the Florida Mortgage & Investment Co. (FMIC) deeded the Rosemary Cemetery Property to the town. Prior to that date, burials in that cemetery could be made only with the company’s permission. On May 22, 1903, L. H. Cunliff, the first to purchase a burial plot, was charged $15. (In 1910, seven years later, he asserted that he had been bilked, whereupon the town council allowed him to buy the adjacent lot for an additional $5.)
On February 10, 1903, W. W. Lathrop, superintendent of the Peninsular Telephone Co. proposed establishing a telephone exchange in Sarasota. In less than an hour, the councilmen accepted and granted a 30-year franchise to the company. A 50-line switchboard was installed in 1904 and located in the post office building. Carrie Abbe, the Postmistress, was in charge and she hired Mamie Woodruff as the first telephone operator. There were 48 subscribers.
On April 6, 1903, Theodore Redd was awarded a contract to grade Main Street from Five Points to the bay for $35. The town had no money so he accepted scrip (a promise to pay) to be redeemed at a later date.
The women of Sarasota demanded street lighting, sidewalks, and better roads. Hearing the shrill demands of their wives, the councilmen ordered three kerosene street lamps at $3.75 each. One was placed near the watering trough at five Points, one at the foot of Main Street, and the third at the train depot.
The councilmen ordered the property owners to bear the expense of hard surfacing Main Street with marl, but sidewalks was another thing. Sarasota had gotten along fine without them so what’s the hurry.
Starting with only seven women, they chipped in and bought lumber, had it unloaded at the Methodist Church, and started to lay the sidewalks themselves. That did it! The men took over the job and the women stood by, bossed, and snickered.
On September 10, 1903, the council passed the License Fee Ordinance and established the schedule of fees to be paid by every business or profession. Fees ranged from $1.50 to $12.50 per year. Passing an ordinance and enforcing it were two different things, especially since FMIC still owned most of the land and Gillespie was FMIC’s on-site representative.
Starting in the spring of 1903 J. H. Lord, a wealthy Maine native who had visited in Venice since 1891 foresaw Sarasota’s future and started to buy land. He bought lots on Main Street, four of the five corners on Five Points, 200 town lots and 70,000 acres up and down the coast. He paid cash for most of the property and it was a stimulus for Sarasota.
Sarasota was booming!
(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.
On February 11, 1903, Gillespie, the on-site official of the Florida Mortgage & Investment Co. (FMIC) deeded the Rosemary Cemetery Property to the town. Prior to that date, burials in that cemetery could be made only with the company’s permission. On May 22, 1903, L. H. Cunliff, the first to purchase a burial plot, was charged $15. (In 1910, seven years later, he asserted that he had been bilked, whereupon the town council allowed him to buy the adjacent lot for an additional $5.)
On February 10, 1903, W. W. Lathrop, superintendent of the Peninsular Telephone Co. proposed establishing a telephone exchange in Sarasota. In less than an hour, the councilmen accepted and granted a 30-year franchise to the company. A 50-line switchboard was installed in 1904 and located in the post office building. Carrie Abbe, the Postmistress, was in charge and she hired Mamie Woodruff as the first telephone operator. There were 48 subscribers.
On April 6, 1903, Theodore Redd was awarded a contract to grade Main Street from Five Points to the bay for $35. The town had no money so he accepted scrip (a promise to pay) to be redeemed at a later date.
The women of Sarasota demanded street lighting, sidewalks, and better roads. Hearing the shrill demands of their wives, the councilmen ordered three kerosene street lamps at $3.75 each. One was placed near the watering trough at five Points, one at the foot of Main Street, and the third at the train depot.
The councilmen ordered the property owners to bear the expense of hard surfacing Main Street with marl, but sidewalks was another thing. Sarasota had gotten along fine without them so what’s the hurry.
Starting with only seven women, they chipped in and bought lumber, had it unloaded at the Methodist Church, and started to lay the sidewalks themselves. That did it! The men took over the job and the women stood by, bossed, and snickered.
On September 10, 1903, the council passed the License Fee Ordinance and established the schedule of fees to be paid by every business or profession. Fees ranged from $1.50 to $12.50 per year. Passing an ordinance and enforcing it were two different things, especially since FMIC still owned most of the land and Gillespie was FMIC’s on-site representative.
Starting in the spring of 1903 J. H. Lord, a wealthy Maine native who had visited in Venice since 1891 foresaw Sarasota’s future and started to buy land. He bought lots on Main Street, four of the five corners on Five Points, 200 town lots and 70,000 acres up and down the coast. He paid cash for most of the property and it was a stimulus for Sarasota.
Sarasota was booming!
(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.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (17th in a series)
Even before Sarasota was incorporated as a town, community spirit was strong. People helped their neighbors without being asked to do so and donated money, property and/or manpower for the common good.
This issue of “Settling” is devoted to biographies of a few persons who have contributed to the growth of early Sarasota but whose names have not been included in the narrative thus far.
JOHN BLACKBURN
John and Belinda Blackburn came to the Horse and Chase Area (now known as Nokomis) in 1881 with their 15-year-old son George. John was a farmer and cattle broker from Iowa. Jack Webb, the youngest son of the Spanish Point Webbs helped them build their first house.
John grew potatoes, sugar came and bananas and built a large sloop that carried heavy loads of hogs, chickens, fish, produce and syrup to Tampa area markets and brought back, tourists, lumber and hardware. George was elected to the Town Council in 1902.
LEWIS COLSON
Lewis Colson and his wife came to Sarasota in 1884 with Richard Paulsons’ team to survey 50,000 acres for the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company and plotted the town of Sarasota. Lewis drove the stake in the ground at Five Points to mark the center of the town.
Lewis and Irene were among the early members of Sarasota’s black community, then called Overtown. Irene was the community midwife. Lewis donated property that they had bought to the Bethlehem Baptist Church. Lewis, a lay preacher, was the first minister. The church at the corner of Central and Seventh Streets was the community center for education, cultural and recreation activities.
JOSEPH HALTON, M.D.
Joseph Halton was born in England in 1881, arrived in the United States with his parents and grew up in Ohio and Indiana. As a boy, he worked for 12 ½ cents per hour, saved $130, and enrolled in the medical school at the University of Cincinnati.
Immediately after graduation in January 1907, he came to Sarasota, a city of 1400 people. He was met at the depot by a citizen who said that his mother was bleeding to death. Dr. Halton jumped into a boat with the man, went to Siesta Key, and saved the woman’s life. that act established his reputation in Sarasota.
A year later, with the help of Sir John Gillespie, Joseph and his brother Dr. Jack Halton founded the Sanitarium at 300 North Gulfstream Avenue, Sarasota’s first hospital.
Dr. Joe made regular calls as far away as Bradenton and Venice with horse and buggy. When the call was for childbirth, he went by horseback because it was faster. He said, “I’d make a call to one house in the country and before I could get away from there, a messenger would meet me and tell me to stop somewhere else.”
During his years as a physician in Sarasota, Dr. Halton performed over 1600 operations for needy children and secured free hospitalization and nursing for them.
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 at www.simplysarasota.blogspot.com
This issue of “Settling” is devoted to biographies of a few persons who have contributed to the growth of early Sarasota but whose names have not been included in the narrative thus far.
JOHN BLACKBURN
John and Belinda Blackburn came to the Horse and Chase Area (now known as Nokomis) in 1881 with their 15-year-old son George. John was a farmer and cattle broker from Iowa. Jack Webb, the youngest son of the Spanish Point Webbs helped them build their first house.
John grew potatoes, sugar came and bananas and built a large sloop that carried heavy loads of hogs, chickens, fish, produce and syrup to Tampa area markets and brought back, tourists, lumber and hardware. George was elected to the Town Council in 1902.
LEWIS COLSON
Lewis Colson and his wife came to Sarasota in 1884 with Richard Paulsons’ team to survey 50,000 acres for the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company and plotted the town of Sarasota. Lewis drove the stake in the ground at Five Points to mark the center of the town.
Lewis and Irene were among the early members of Sarasota’s black community, then called Overtown. Irene was the community midwife. Lewis donated property that they had bought to the Bethlehem Baptist Church. Lewis, a lay preacher, was the first minister. The church at the corner of Central and Seventh Streets was the community center for education, cultural and recreation activities.
JOSEPH HALTON, M.D.
Joseph Halton was born in England in 1881, arrived in the United States with his parents and grew up in Ohio and Indiana. As a boy, he worked for 12 ½ cents per hour, saved $130, and enrolled in the medical school at the University of Cincinnati.
Immediately after graduation in January 1907, he came to Sarasota, a city of 1400 people. He was met at the depot by a citizen who said that his mother was bleeding to death. Dr. Halton jumped into a boat with the man, went to Siesta Key, and saved the woman’s life. that act established his reputation in Sarasota.
A year later, with the help of Sir John Gillespie, Joseph and his brother Dr. Jack Halton founded the Sanitarium at 300 North Gulfstream Avenue, Sarasota’s first hospital.
Dr. Joe made regular calls as far away as Bradenton and Venice with horse and buggy. When the call was for childbirth, he went by horseback because it was faster. He said, “I’d make a call to one house in the country and before I could get away from there, a messenger would meet me and tell me to stop somewhere else.”
During his years as a physician in Sarasota, Dr. Halton performed over 1600 operations for needy children and secured free hospitalization and nursing for them.
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 at www.simplysarasota.blogspot.com
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (16th in a series)
The previous installment of the The Settling Of Sarasota told of the telephone that Harry Higel had installed in the Post office/Telephone building in 1899. Carrie Abbe, Postmistress, answered every call, "took" the message, and was expected to deliver it ASAP, regardless of the distance from the building and the weather.
It was 1900 and Sarasota was in the doldrums. Ralph Caples was on honeymoon with his wife Eileen and had just arrived in Sarasota after a 4-hour spine jarring horse and buggy trip from Bradingtown. If Sarasota was to grow, a better means of land transportation was needed. Caples first job while attending college was yard work for the Lake Erie and Western Railroad Co. With that as a background, he organized the Florida West Coast Railroad Co. with the objective of building a line from Tampa to Sarasota. Before his company could start, however, members of the governing body of the Seaboard Airline* Railroad got word of Caples’ plan and started laying track south from Turkey Creek (Plant City) to Sarasota, using parts of the Slow and Wobbly right-of-way. The official title of the railroad was the United States and West Indies Railroad and Steamship Company. It later was absorbed by the Seaboard.
With the railroad nearing Sarasota and the depot under construction at the corner of Lemon and First Streets, the economy began to improve. On October 20, 1902, upon the urging of Harry Higel, 53 voters, essentially everyone living within the township, caused the town to be incorporated.
John Gillespie was elected Mayor and Higel was elected Councilman. In their exuberance, the township erected a fountain at five points and, to their chagrin, cattle would wander over for a drink and leave remains of their presence.
On December 10th, the Council gave orders to Marshall Blair to repair a bridge across a slough at the foot of Main Street. The job was completed in three weeks; the bill was $7.99 and payment was approved only after a long argument in council. Blair later resigned his job as Marshall, saying that he could not live on starvation wages.
On March 22, 1903, the railroad reached Sarasota. The Sarasota Ice Fish and Power Co. built an electric power plant that provided electricity to nearby homes and businesses. Harry Higel and partners built the Higelhurst Hotel that had hot and cold running water and electric lights in every room. The rent was $2.50 per day. The dining room could seat 150 people and the kitchen had gas (?) for cooking.
*Before the existence of aircraft that flew commercially, the word airline was defined as the shortest distance between two locations.
(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.
It was 1900 and Sarasota was in the doldrums. Ralph Caples was on honeymoon with his wife Eileen and had just arrived in Sarasota after a 4-hour spine jarring horse and buggy trip from Bradingtown. If Sarasota was to grow, a better means of land transportation was needed. Caples first job while attending college was yard work for the Lake Erie and Western Railroad Co. With that as a background, he organized the Florida West Coast Railroad Co. with the objective of building a line from Tampa to Sarasota. Before his company could start, however, members of the governing body of the Seaboard Airline* Railroad got word of Caples’ plan and started laying track south from Turkey Creek (Plant City) to Sarasota, using parts of the Slow and Wobbly right-of-way. The official title of the railroad was the United States and West Indies Railroad and Steamship Company. It later was absorbed by the Seaboard.
With the railroad nearing Sarasota and the depot under construction at the corner of Lemon and First Streets, the economy began to improve. On October 20, 1902, upon the urging of Harry Higel, 53 voters, essentially everyone living within the township, caused the town to be incorporated.
John Gillespie was elected Mayor and Higel was elected Councilman. In their exuberance, the township erected a fountain at five points and, to their chagrin, cattle would wander over for a drink and leave remains of their presence.
On December 10th, the Council gave orders to Marshall Blair to repair a bridge across a slough at the foot of Main Street. The job was completed in three weeks; the bill was $7.99 and payment was approved only after a long argument in council. Blair later resigned his job as Marshall, saying that he could not live on starvation wages.
On March 22, 1903, the railroad reached Sarasota. The Sarasota Ice Fish and Power Co. built an electric power plant that provided electricity to nearby homes and businesses. Harry Higel and partners built the Higelhurst Hotel that had hot and cold running water and electric lights in every room. The rent was $2.50 per day. The dining room could seat 150 people and the kitchen had gas (?) for cooking.
*Before the existence of aircraft that flew commercially, the word airline was defined as the shortest distance between two locations.
(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.
Friday, December 28, 2007
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (15th in a series)
The last issue of the Settling of Sarasota described the three weekly visits of the Steamship Mistletoe to pick up fish for the Tampa market. With the Mistletoe in regular operation, more fishermen moved here and the industry grew.The following is J. W. Walden’s description of a trip he made in 1896 in the fishing boat Sea Turtle: “as we approached Sarasota Pass with the incoming tide we met a school of mullet. They darted to and fro in the sea green water. They bumped against the boat and leaped over the rudder.. I captured two six-pounders with my dip net while they were leaping through the air. The school was more than a mile long. It was a sight I shall never forget.”
None of these fishermen became wealthy however; they considered themselves lucky to be paid one dollar for one hundred pounds of fish.
During the Spanish-American War (1898) nearly 40,000 troops were stationed at Tampa for months awaiting transport to Cuba. The demand for fish soared, prices rose, the fishermen made enough money to buy better equipment, and the industry grew.
The war also brought prosperity to the cattlemen in the area. Thousands of cattle were driven to slaughterhouses at the edge of Tampa to supply meat for the soldiers and the booming town. “Cattle money” didn’t help Sarasota, however, because it was deposited or spent in Tampa
Fewer than a dozen families lived in the unincorporated town. Sarasota was in a depression.
On June 1, 1899, C.V.S. Wilson and his wife moved his newspaper plant from Bradenton to Sarasota after having heard a report that it was enjoying a boom. The ‘boom’ consisted of the sale of the DeSoto Hotel and 200 feet of waterfront land for $1,500 and the sale of the Sarasota House and all it’s considerable land for $500.
Soon after arriving in Sarasota, Wilson published the first issue of the Sarasota Times. There were a total of 300 people in the entire area. Wilson never missed an issue for twenty-two years, at which time it was sold.
Three partners, Highsmith, Turner and Prime bought an abandoned store that sold everything from diapers to caskets, groceries, hardware, feed and hay, plows and stoves. In one year they sold almost $100,000 worth of goods without receiving $1,000 in cash. Taken in trade were alligator hide and cow hides, furs, sweet potatoes, chickens, et al. These goods were shipped to Tampa for whatever cash remained after transportation and handling costs were taken.
Also mentioned in the last issue was Harry lee Higel’s purchase of the dock at the foot of Main Street. He was also the agent for the steamship “Mistletoe,” and bought the steamship “Vandalia” which filled in on those days that the “Mistletoe” didn’t stop at Sarasota. He became a major contributor to the growth of Sarasota.
Listed below are some of the Harry Higel’s accomplishments: He· Installed gasoline and kerosene tanks on the pier.
· Donated the land for the First Methodists Church.
· Built the post office/telephone building
· Developed Sarasota Key which later became Siesta Key and
· Arranged with Gulf Coast Telephone Company to string wires from Bradentown to · · Sarasota using pine trees as telephone pole.
One telephone was installed in the post office and a second one in Higel’s office on the pier. The phone crackled and jangled; a person “needed ears as sharp as a village gossip and deep concentration to comprehend what was being said.”
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.
Photo credit: Sarasota County Historical Resources
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (14th in a series)
In the last installment, you read about Sarasota’s first train, the “Slow and Wobbly”. This link between Bradentown (now Bradenton) and Sarasota was Sir John Gillespie’s attempt to assure Sarasota’s survival.
After less than three years of spasmodic trips, the Slow and Wobbly was retired. Construction had stopped, the workers had gone and there was little money to spend. The engine and flat cars were left to rust. Gillespie’s problems were multiplying.
His wife Mary was a cantankerous woman who enjoyed frequent nips of scotch or bourbon or rum often resulting in, shall we say, embarrassing situations. Sir John, an ardent Episcopalian was serving as a lay reader at church services one Sunday and Mrs. Gillespie strolled in after services had begun and took a seat close to the pulpit. She opened a large red parasol and held it over her head until services ended. She then stood up, closed the parasol and said “nice going darlin” and left the building, weaving down the wooden sidewalk towards the De Soto Hotel (inset).
Some months later, in an effort to get a church in Sarasota, Gillespie invited an Episcopalian bishop to be his guest at the DeSoto Hotel. The bishop arrived accompanied by a large group of church dignitaries. While he was seated in the dining room Mrs. Gillespie entered, lurched into a waiter who spilled the entire contents of a soup tureen on the bishop’s lap. The bishop rose, said nothing, left the dining room and the DeSoto Hotel the next morning. Sarasota did not get its Episcopalian church that year.
As a result of Mary Gillespie’s shenanigans, the couple he had hired to manage the DeSoto Hotel left it in 1891 and built their own fancy hotel; the guests moved and soon the DeSoto closed.
Sir John and Mary moved to Bradentown for a short time, after which they returned to Scotland for a visit. When Gillespie returned to Sarasota a few years later he was alone.
The winter of 1894-95 was the coldest in the state’s history. Temperatures fell to 17 degrees, killing the vegetable crop and ruining the season’s citrus crop. As a result, in 1895, fishing was the only economic stimulus remaining and Sarasota was referred to as a fishing village. Fortunately the trees in the groves escaped being killed by the frost; citrus growers from farther north in Florida moved to the area and started new groves.
Until then, fish caught in the Sarasota area were gutted and salted for transportation to other areas. Beginning in 1884, the demand for salted fish declined because fresh fish shipped in ice had become available. Ice plants were being built in Tampa but economical transportation of ice and fish did not yet exist. In 1895, channels were cut in Sarasota Bay that allowed steamers to take the inland waterway from Tampa directly to the dock at Sarasota. The bill from the U.S. Swanee Dredge was $9,998.43.
Harry Lee Higel came to Sarasota in the early 1890’s and bought the dock at the end of Main Street that was built by the defunct Scottish Colony. He became the agent for the Tampa line whose steamship, “Mistletoe”, made its maiden trip on Monday, October 7, 1895, to pick up fresh fish. The scheduled stop developed into three visits per week.
On each trip the captain blew the whistle as the ship was coming down the bay and many of the town’s residents turned out to see if new tourists were aboard.
The community now had a dependable connection with the outside world. Sarasotans could sell their vegetables and fruit in Tampa and buy goods in the “big stores” there with the proceeds.
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.
Photo credit: Sarasota County Historical Resources
After less than three years of spasmodic trips, the Slow and Wobbly was retired. Construction had stopped, the workers had gone and there was little money to spend. The engine and flat cars were left to rust. Gillespie’s problems were multiplying.
His wife Mary was a cantankerous woman who enjoyed frequent nips of scotch or bourbon or rum often resulting in, shall we say, embarrassing situations. Sir John, an ardent Episcopalian was serving as a lay reader at church services one Sunday and Mrs. Gillespie strolled in after services had begun and took a seat close to the pulpit. She opened a large red parasol and held it over her head until services ended. She then stood up, closed the parasol and said “nice going darlin” and left the building, weaving down the wooden sidewalk towards the De Soto Hotel (inset).
Some months later, in an effort to get a church in Sarasota, Gillespie invited an Episcopalian bishop to be his guest at the DeSoto Hotel. The bishop arrived accompanied by a large group of church dignitaries. While he was seated in the dining room Mrs. Gillespie entered, lurched into a waiter who spilled the entire contents of a soup tureen on the bishop’s lap. The bishop rose, said nothing, left the dining room and the DeSoto Hotel the next morning. Sarasota did not get its Episcopalian church that year.As a result of Mary Gillespie’s shenanigans, the couple he had hired to manage the DeSoto Hotel left it in 1891 and built their own fancy hotel; the guests moved and soon the DeSoto closed.
Sir John and Mary moved to Bradentown for a short time, after which they returned to Scotland for a visit. When Gillespie returned to Sarasota a few years later he was alone.
The winter of 1894-95 was the coldest in the state’s history. Temperatures fell to 17 degrees, killing the vegetable crop and ruining the season’s citrus crop. As a result, in 1895, fishing was the only economic stimulus remaining and Sarasota was referred to as a fishing village. Fortunately the trees in the groves escaped being killed by the frost; citrus growers from farther north in Florida moved to the area and started new groves.
Until then, fish caught in the Sarasota area were gutted and salted for transportation to other areas. Beginning in 1884, the demand for salted fish declined because fresh fish shipped in ice had become available. Ice plants were being built in Tampa but economical transportation of ice and fish did not yet exist. In 1895, channels were cut in Sarasota Bay that allowed steamers to take the inland waterway from Tampa directly to the dock at Sarasota. The bill from the U.S. Swanee Dredge was $9,998.43.
Harry Lee Higel came to Sarasota in the early 1890’s and bought the dock at the end of Main Street that was built by the defunct Scottish Colony. He became the agent for the Tampa line whose steamship, “Mistletoe”, made its maiden trip on Monday, October 7, 1895, to pick up fresh fish. The scheduled stop developed into three visits per week.
On each trip the captain blew the whistle as the ship was coming down the bay and many of the town’s residents turned out to see if new tourists were aboard.
The community now had a dependable connection with the outside world. Sarasotans could sell their vegetables and fruit in Tampa and buy goods in the “big stores” there with the proceeds.
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.
Photo credit: Sarasota County Historical Resources
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