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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Showing posts with label sarasota florida. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sarasota florida. Show all posts
Monday, June 15, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
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.
The information on this page may not be reproduced or republished on any other webpage, website, or publication. Please LINK TO US instead.
Monday, January 12, 2009
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.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (13th in a series)
This is a story about Sarasota’s first railroad.The first train was called the ‘Slow and Wobbly’ by the local residents. It ran from the county seat in "Bradentown" to Sarasota; the inaugural run took place on May 16, 1892, the venture lasted for 3 years.
Little if any ballast had been used when the tracks were laid and, as a result, the train always wobbled and staggered along, appearing every moment as though it would topple. And it often did! One time the engine rolled over when it reached the water tower just outside Bradentown and the tower collapsed. After that the engineer siphoned the water needed out of ponds along the right of way.
The engine was a dilapidated Civil War, wood burner with a huge firebox and a towering smokestack that poured forth soot and sparks. The ‘train’ consisted of two flat cars, one of which was covered with a canvas canopy to protect the passengers from the sun, rain and smoke. This car, which had uncovered plank seats, was dignified by the name “the day coach.”
There was no station; one had to climb a stepladder to get to the platform and the entrance to the ‘white folks’ passenger car. The other car was used for ‘colored’ people, mail and freight. The schedule of this, the first railway in all of Manatee County, was timed by the arrival of the steamer “Margaret” of the Plant Steamship Line, from Port Tampa, and the steamer “Manatee”, of the Independent line, also from Tampa. They had the mail contract filling-in the gap between the Tampa railroad terminal and Bradentown in Manatee County.
The train started on the judgment of the conductor in charge; at any rate, he ran the train to suit himself, usually starting when the mailbags were delivered to him. The black smoke from the fat pine fuel made it hard to tell that the engineer was a ‘white’ man. The Negro fireman was so black that the smut kind of left a white mark on him. These three made up the crew of the train. One trip made along with an early passenger, his wife, his sister, and her husband, is a fair example of this innovation in the mail service, carried before this time by buggy or on horseback.
The following is his description of the trip.
“When the conductor was ready, and steam was up to the desired pressure, indicated mostly by the leaky cylinder glands, he signaled the engineer to start going, a sign for a prolonged blowing of the whistle and ringing of the bell, thus notifying the public they were off once more. Lou Duckwall, the conductor, brought his dinner pail aboard and left it on the floor under the bench seat near the door opening. Pretty soon the train was weaving through the woods, rattling and squeaking its winding way, between ditches that had been excavated to raise the narrow gauge track above the ordinary level of the woods.
The track had settled in many places, making it rough riding, so much so, that the conductor’s lard can dinner pail worked its way back on the floor and fell out. He just noticed it and made a grab, but missed it, leaned out making frantic efforts to call engineer James Nichols’ attention to stop the train. Being so informed, Nichols stopped and backed slowly, all hands and passengers watching to find the lost pail. After going back for about a mile someone shouted, “there it is” pointing to the dry ditch. Our conductor hopped out and secured it, the contents still in the dinner pail and apparently all right. He climbed up the iron steps, working himself back into the car, laughingly placed the wayward pail in a more secure place, not much worried about this event. Time seemingly was no object. It appeared funny enough to us, and we all had a good laugh over the incident.
While the train was puffing and snorting along, the engineer tooting the whistle at every cow or cow’s husband he passed in the woods, the steam vapor sifted its way through the canvas, making our ride ever more uncomfortable.
Along about Oneco we stopped to take on wood where it was stacked in cords on a platform. All hands helped to put it aboard the tender, bantering in the meantime with Simmy, an old Cracker who had the job of keeping the engine in fuel. He was unloading his rickety wagon pulled by a cow and a bull.
Once more we started off, shouting “so long” to Simmy, through the piney woods, getting all shaken up on the primitive road when the smell of something burning arrested our attention. Everybody looked around to see if their clothes were afire, when the discovery was made that a spark had filtered through a hole in the canvas and got into the sister’s parasol. The breeze fanned it into a blaze. The parasol was thrown out of the car, a complete loss.
The fare for this eventful trip, two dollars each, that brought us to Sarasota where we alighted onto a platform at the front of a one room shack in the woods.” The station crew often “forgot” to transfer the fares to Gillespie, the railroad’s train manager.
ALAS!
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 (12th in a series)
Anna and Sue Whitcomb, who had been educated in northern schools, were the first teachers at the one room 16 x 25 foot school where they served without pay in 1886. The children sat on homemade benches and there was no school during the winter because the school had no stove.
The Whitcomb girls taught for just one year as their thoughts were occupied with other matters. Both sisters were married on the same day in the first double wedding held in Sarasota. The entire community joined in the shivaee*.
Sir John Gillespie, the on-site official of the Scotch Development Company (FMIC) wanted to prove to skeptics that the 40-acre plots deeded to the colonists were fertile. He selected one of the plots on Fruitville Road on which tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, orange trees and more were planted. Gillespie knew nothing about farming and the plot he selected was the most sterile in the area. Nothing grew and the farm was a failure. That became a ‘serendipity’**.
Gillespie contracted with Jesse Tucker to supply 100 barrels of lime to be used as fertilizer at $1 per barrel. Tucker gathered his neighbors together, went to White Beach where they gathered heaps of (oyster) shells. They felled pine trees, cut them in 15-foot lengths and built two lime kilns by stacking logs and shells in alternate layers 8 feet high and setting the piles on fire. A picnic lunch was served while the piles began to burn. When the residue cooled, the ashes provided the needed lime. Gillespie paid the $100, and Tucker used it to build the Fruitville Missionary Baptist Church (June 1887). Soon after building the church, all construction was completed and work at the failed experimental farm ended; it was 1887 and paying jobs ended. The stream of money went dry. Workers left. Ships no longer stopped at Sarasota’s piers (inset).
No one would pay the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company’s price of $10 per acre for property in Sarasota.
* A noisy celebration
** An unexpected accident of good fortune
* A noisy celebration
** An unexpected accident of good fortune
Gillespie realized that getting a railroad built from Tampa or at least from Bradenton was a must for Sarasota’s survival. He had a plan whereby the British companies would give every alternate section of land along the right-of-way to the railroad company. After the trains began running the land could be sold, and the profit used to repay the British companies. The Manatee and Sarasota Railway and Drainage Company was incorporated on April 12, 1890 for $50,000. Gillespie was made president.
Stay tuned to learn about some speculative Shenigans.
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.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (11th in a series)
The photograph (inset) was taken of the Whitakers, the Brownings, and other Sarasota pioneers on a Sunday afternoon in 1886 the fan in the hand of the man in the left foreground. The head-to-toe clothing and the mosquitoes made the fan a requirement.Beginning in the fall of 1886 Sarasota was the fastest growing community on the West Coast of Florida south of Tampa. The DeSoto Hotel was under construction streets were opened in the woods, and homes were being built.
Craftsmen were paid $2.00/day, laborers $1.25/day, in cash. The first school, a one room building 16 X 25 feet was built on the south side of Main Street and paid for by Sir John Gillespie, an official of the Florida Mortgage & Investment Co. (FMIC). The photo of Sir John was taken in 1886.
He introduced golf to Florida on May 16, 1886 by “laying out” a two-hole one-fairway course on what is now Sarasota’s Main Street. The 2007 edition of the yellow pages lists over 65 golf courses in the Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice area, and John Gillespie designed quite a few of those built between 1888 and 1918).
On February 25,1887, Gillespie’s DeSoto Hotel opened with a Grand Ball that was attended by 200 persons, many of whom arrived on horseback. Some celebrants needed a few days before attempting the ride back home. The DeSoto Hotel was located at the foot of Main Street, had 30 rooms, a large lobby, and a dining room. It was said to be the finest on the West Coast of Florida; the rent was $2.00 a night. (Later renamed The Belle Haven Inn).
The mail arrived in Sarasota from the community of Manatee three days a week. It was then transported by horse and buggy. Since there were no bridges, the driver would ford the creeks at the shallowest places. Whenever the water rose above the buggy’s floor, the mailman would stand on the seat to keep dry.
On May 14, 1887, Charles Whitaker was appointed postmaster and the post office was moved to the Whitaker store on Main Street. The Sarasotans now could get their mail without trudging through the woods to the Abbe store, more than a mile and a half away. Alex Browning, son of a pioneer family, once remarked that you knew where people were visiting by where their horses were tethered. I suspect that this may have caused a rumor or two to be started.
Many of the workers who came to Sarasota for the good wages were rough characters and said and did things frowned upon by the good people. Construction continued at a rapid pace, however, and buildings were erected on the north side of Main Street between Palm and Pineapple Avenues. One of them was built for John Iverson who had just married and wanted a “new Home in town” for his bride. After many years, C.V.S. Wilson, the founder of the Sarasota Times, used the house as a print shop. The Florida Mortgage and Investment Co. built a two-story office building on the corner of 8th and Central. Gillespie had his office there.
On September 10, 1887, Elaf Green, a carpenter who had come to Sarasota with his family to work on the DeSoto Hotel stopped at Whitaker’s store and calmly remarked that he had just killed his wife, son and two daughters. Sheriff Watson, whose office was in Bradenton, was notified and he rushed to Sarasota and placed Green under arrest. The sheriff and Green were in a buggy headed back to Bradenton when Green threw the sheriff out of the buggy, grabbed his rifle and raised it to fire when Charles Whitaker who was following on horseback shot and killed him.
SARASOTA WAS INDEED A BOOMTOWN!
Photo credit: Sarasota County Historical Society
Stay tuned, more to come..
Copyright © Leland G. Desmon. The information on this page may not be reproduced or republished on another webpage, website, or other printed material. Please LINK TO US instead.
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (10th in a series)
The last issue of “Settling” included a short paragraph about Jack Tatum*, the town’s blacksmith, cobbler, and wagon builder. Enumeration of his versatility was space limited, and is continued here.When the men of the town ran out of liquor, Jack would fire up the boiler and steam sour mash until everyone was satisfied. He had an organ in his home that he pumped vigorously, sweating up a storm, while playing for everyone’s entertainment. Records show that he was an accomplished (?) veterinarian and also pulled teeth. He was regarded as a pillar of the community.
A well was being drilled at what is now “Five Points. (Downtown Sarasota)” Someone noticed a few shiny yellow particles in the borings, and several hundred people came from everywhere to collect the “gold.” A jokester had scattered brass filings from Tatum’s shop in the dirt. As the saying goes, “A little work, a little play, to keep us going, and so good day.”
W. A. “Old Man” Bacon, a born jokester, built a house on the newly constructed pier from which he served oysters, raw or cooked, and donated a large glass of corn beer with each serving. It was a dizzying experience. The village pranksters were continually “egging” on W. A., a willing conspirator, and decided that they wanted some of John Gillespie’s newly arrived Kentucky bourbon. Bacon thought about it for awhile, took out his pocketknife and pricked his arm twice. When the blood covered his arm, he hollered as though in pain, and ran toward Gillespie. “Mr. Gillespie, a big rattler got me and the pizen’s goin’ all through me! I’m a goner.”
Just as expected, Gillespie said, “you need some whiskey and I’ll get it for you.” He ran to the warehouse and came out with a bottle of Old Crow.
Bacon took a big swig and slumped down, whereupon his co-conspirators grabbed the bottle and finished it off. Gillespie realized that he had been flimflammed, and to show that he wasn’t offended, brought out another bottle, the contents of which soon disappeared.
John Gillespie introduced golf to Florida. On May 16, 1886, he laid out the first gold course in the country, a long fairway with a tee and a green at each end. It was located in a clearing on what is now Main Street. He practiced daily for many years.
Brought over from Scotland, the name GOLF is an acronym for Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden.
*The community of Tatum Ridge is located in Sarasota County just north of Fruitville Road and east of I-75.
*The Tatum House (inset) has since been moved to Old Miakka at the Crowley Museum and Nature Center. ca.1892 Credit: Sarasota County Historical Resources
To be continued..
Copyright © Leland G. Desmon. The information on this page may not be reproduced or republished on another webpage, website, or other printed material. Please LINK TO US instead.
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (9th in a series)
THE DEMISE OF THE ORMISTON COLONYThe last installment of “Settling" ended with the 68 Scottish colonists experiencing a snowfall on January 9, 1886. Dead fish washed ashore and Selvin Tate, the nephew of the Archbishop of Canterbury and promoter of the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company (FMIC) disappeared. The high hopes of the colonists, who had left Scotland three months ago, were dashed.
One reason for the failure of the colony is that the families were of the upper middle class. Not one had ever been a farmer. If housing had been available as promised, the colonists might have stayed. Nearly all had left by May 1, 1886.
Weeks before the intended arrival of the Colonists, Sir John Gillespie an official of the FMIC had ordered A. C. Acton, their local manager, to erect temporary housing for the colonists. He was also ordered to have a dock ready to moor the arriving shipload of Scotsmen. Acton was a very sick man, however, and unable to get much done.
In January 1886, John Hamilton Gillespie, Sir John Gillespie’s son was sent to Sarasota to relieve Acton and he began to lay out roads and sidewalks in the “downtown” area, build the DeSoto Hotel on Main Street (inset ca.1886), and more. A number of the colonists were employed in the building program.
Had the “Colony” arrived six months later, or the construction begun six months earlier, it might have been a success. Lumber for the dock and hotel was brought by schooners to the foot of Main Street, thrown overboard and floated to shore where it was transported by mule “powered” wagons to its final location.
Construction of the dock was backbreaking work that required the workers to stand in the cold water as deep as chest high. For this they earned $2.00 for a long day. A warehouse was built at the end of the dock to house merchandise.
Immediately upon its completion the side-wheel steamer Erie began making regular stops at Tampa and Sarasota.
In 1886, Dr. Thomas Wallace, who came with the colonists had a 1½-story house built on Main Street and placed a cot in one of the rooms where patients could be treated. He also established the first drug store.
Furman and Bill Whitaker opened the first General Store, aside from the Company Store. Hamlin Whitaker opened a market where he sold meat from a freshly butchered steer (ice was not available).
The first blacksmith, cobbler, and wagon builder whose name was Jack Tatum, came to town in 1886. He could shoe the most stubborn mule, remake any part of a wagon, mend any saddle and fix any sewing machine. It was said that he had a “wheel” left over after fixing a clock and it still kept good time.
In 1888 the FMIC issued a promotional booklet touting the weather, investment and recreational opportunities. It pointed out that Massachusetts’s death rate was 1 in 254, New York’s was 1 in 473, and Florida’s was 1 in 1,457. Establishment of these numbers was not explained.
In 1894, the Inn on Main Street hosted its’ first convention, a group of Baptists. The DeSoto Hotel had 30 rooms to rent.
The DeSoto Hotel and its furnishings cost 5,000 pounds (about $15,000). Tourists returned annually to spend 2 or 3 months to shoot birds, catch fish, and sail the calm waters of Sarasota Bay. Others came to fight tuberculosis or rheumatism.
Steamers carried passengers from the dock at the Hotel’s front door to the Tampa terminus of the railroad. The Mary Disston, known as the Dirty Mary, that also hauled freight, was one of the steamers.
Sarasota was becoming a “boom town.”
DeSoto Hotel - Credit: Sarasota County Historical Resources.
To be continued..
Copyright © Leland G. Desmon. The information on this page may not be reproduced or republished on another webpage, website, or other printed material. Please LINK TO US instead.
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (8th in a series)
NO “TEMPORARY TOWN HOUSE”, NO TOWN, AND NO ROADSAt the end of last month’s “Settling”, the Ormiston Colony consisting of 68 Scottish colonists, found themselves in Sarasota without the promised “rent free house” (for 6 months) in town, no hotel under construction, or pier. The colonists then proceeded to make the best of their predicament, and some of them went to live in the homes of settlers.
The Lawries and the Brereton family found shelter in the old cedar bucket plant down the bay at the foot of Cunliff Lane. Tom Weir, the manager of the company store, passed out cots and bedding to those who had none. The Lawries had brought a large tent with them, and turned it over to the Brownings who pitched it under the pines near the company store.
Soon Mrs. Browning was busy at a campfire, making Scotch scones and pancakes with plenty of tea. That night, some of the Browning children slept in the company store. While the children slept, the older members of the family gathered around the young “natives” who did their best to make a good impression on the pretty, red-cheeked Scottish girls. The Whitaker family, the Riggins, Abbes, Tuckers, and Tatoms, all homesteaders, did what they could to help the newcomers.
The only thing the company store had for sale was a barrel of crackers that was emptied by the colonists’ children soon after their arrival. Hamlin Whitaker (inset ca.1890) made sure the colonists wouldn’t go hungry, however, as he went out with his cast net and in a short time came back with a load of mullet. Then he helped clean and fry them. They were just ready to eat when Emile Whitaker came along with some bread his mother had baked for the strangers. Later, the Whitaker boys showed the Browning girls how to bake bread in a deep pan over a campfire.
New Year’s day was always a big holiday for the Scotch and the colonists gathered at the cedar bucket plant and celebrated in a grand manner. Mrs. Lawrie and Mrs. Brereton unpacked their linen tablecloths, china and silver and set the table – rough planks on trestles. Tom Burges brought a large plum pudding his sister had made for him before he left Scotland. The pudding was cut into thin slices so that each person could have a piece—to be reminded of home! The portions of plum pudding were tiny but there was plenty of other food. The settlers had brought in game and fish, and the plates were heaped high. “It’s even said that the colonists had more than one “wee nip” of Cuban rum and Sarasota’s “dynamite” before the day was over.
That New Year’s day celebration, January 1, 1886, was the last happy gathering for the colonists. From then on, they had little cause to rejoice about anything. On January 9, the winds turned from south to north, the temperature dropped, and a cold rain began to fall. It snowed. In subtropical Sarasota! Some of them wondered whether it might be windblown ash from a distant fire until the children made and threw snowballs.
Dead fish washed ashore and a stench filled the air. The colonists became very irate and John Tate, who represented the Florida Mortgage and Investment Co. (FMIC) and had traveled to Sarasota with the Ormiston Colony, left hurriedly. It would be unfair to end this episode allowing the reader to conclude that the FMIC was a sleazy organization with the single purpose of obtaining the colonists 100 pounds sterling. The promised town and the 40 acre farms had been platted and registered with the Clerk of Courts, and over the next 18 months, FMIC spent 50,000 pounds on improvements. Would it be enough?
In buggy - Mr. Hamlin Whitaker, Mrs. Nell Adams, Mrs. Charles Abbe. On ground - Mrs. Anton Kleinoscheg (Aunt Carrie), ca.1890.
Credit: Sarasota County Historical Resources A.K. Whitaker Collection
(Continued..)
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Leland Desmon
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Thursday, December 6, 2007
THE SETTLING OF SARASOTA (7th in a series)
THE SCOTTISH COLONY ARRIVESIn the previous installments, -it was stated that through chicanery, the Governor of Florida deeded 700,000 acres, some of which included properties' of the Sarasota's pioneer homesteaders, into the hands of land speculators. This led to the formation of the Vigilance Committee and the subsequent shotgun killing of Harrison T. Riley and Charles Abbe who were suspected of cooperating with the speculators.
Although not a party to the trickery, an organization that benefited from the "re-deeding" was the Florida Mortgage and Investment Co. (FMIC) a British concern whose president was Sir John Gillespie (inset). The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Dean of the Guild of Edinburgh were directors of FMIC. The economy of Scotland in the 1880's was very poor and an advertisement by the FMIC in an Edinburgh newspaper in August 1885 seeking colonists for the "wonderful new town of Sarasota in the richest and most. beautiful section of the entire State of Florida" drew great interest. Colonists were promised a 40 acre ,estate and a lot in town in exchange for 100 pounds sterling (equivalent to 500 U.S. dollars) before departure. Twenty three Scottish families (totaling 68 people) headed by John B. Browning sold their businesses and personal possessions, paid 100 pounds sterling and met in Glasgow for the steamship crossing. The group was called the Ormiston Colony, after the estate of Sir John Gilespie.
The colonists sailed from Glasgow on the steamship "Furnesia" on November 25, 1885 and arrived in New York on December 10th after a very stormy trip. They passed through customs, were met by Selven Tate, one of the promoters of the colonization scheme, and taken to a hotel. After three days of marveling at the sights of New York, they sailed on the steamship "State of Texas" for Fernandina, Florida, arriving on December 17.
From there, they traveled west across the state on a narrow gauge railroad known -as 'two streaks of rust"- ending-up at Cedar Key on December 18th.
At Cedar Key, Tate told them that they would have to wait several weeks for lumber needed to build portable houses in Sarasota. This was very disquieting, as they had been told that accommodations were awaiting them in Sarasota. Christmas came and went with no lumber.
The colonists chartered the small (less than 100 feet long) side-wheel steamer, "Gov. Stafford" for the trip to Sarasota. The -women and children spent the night in the overcrowded cabin. The men slept on top of the luggage in the engine room.
The colonists chartered the small (less than 100 feet long) side-wheel steamer, "Gov. Stafford" for the trip to Sarasota. The -women and children spent the night in the overcrowded cabin. The men slept on top of the luggage in the engine room.
The next morning Mrs. Lawrie opened a 100-pound chest of tea that she had brought along, asked the captain for boiling water, and made tea for everyone. It helped to cheer the colonists. On December 28th, The "Gov. Stafford" crept to anchorage, 100 yards from shore. It was the first steamer ever to arrive in Sarasota and there was no dock for it to tie up to. After being ferried to shore in small rowboats, they looked for the model town that was shown on the maps given them in Scotland. There was only the company store and an abandoned fish oil plant at the waterfront.
The colonists gathered at the company store and demanded the truth from A. C. Acton, the local representative of the FMIC, who told them that they had come earlier than expected.
The native Whitakers and others who had heard the steamboat's whistle arrived and rafted the colonists' trunks and boxes to shore. When the luggage was unloaded, the "Gov. Stafford" lifted anchor, blew the whistle, and disappeared behind the keys.
Mrs. Lawrie opened her tea chest again, Mr. Acton brought boiling water from the company store, and there was tea for all.
(To be continued)..
(C) Copyright, 2007 - Leland Desmon.
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THE SETTLING OF Sarasota (6th in a series)
Murder stains the history of SarasotaCharles Abbe (inset), his wife, Charlotte, and teenage daughters, Carrie and Nellie landed in the town of Manatee (now Bradenton) in November 1877. The family had lived in a suburb of Chicago where Charles had been a salesman for the Singer Sewing Machine Company.
Charles had visited Florida during 1875 and 1876 and bought 359 acres along the bay in what is now Sarasota for less than $1.00 per acre. In the spring of 1877, he bought additional acreage from the state and more land in January 1878.
Charlotte and Charles built a house at what is now the intersection of Arlington Street and Osprey Avenue, a few miles south of the Whitaker's home. He advertised in northern newspapers inviting tourists to winter at his "hotel". He farmed a portion Of the property, opened a store, and in July 1878 applied for a U.S. Post Office to be located at his house. It was granted in August, named Sarasota, and served forty families.
In 1879 Nellie Abbe married Furman Whitaker, the son of Mary Jane and William Whitaker. Charles became active in local politics and was appointed Commissioner in 1882.
Under the Homestead Act of 1862, practically all of the land in this federal public domain was opened for colonization. The Swamp Land Act of 1650 made it possible for Florida pioneers in clever deals with Federal Agents to have 22 million acres classified as swamp land, more than half the state.
On June 12, 1883, under the influence of 'business interests', Florida Governor William D. Bloxham signed a deed giving title of 246,052 acres of land to the Florida Land & Improvement Co. headed by Hamilton Disston, a saw manufacturer of Philadelphia. One week later (June 19, 1883) he gave title to 271,796 more acres of Manatee County land to the Florida Southern Railroad and 48,971 acres to the Florida Mortgage and Investment Co., Ltd, a British concern. A total of 697, 846 acres were finally given away, much of it previously deeded to the pioneer homesteaders.
In April 1884, a meeting was held at Jason Alford's home; 17 pioneers attended, and formed the Sara Sota Vigilance Committee. It was said that they organized to prevent their community from being unjustly gobbled up by the land grabbers.
On June 1884, Harrison T. Riley was riding his pony on the trail from Bee Ridge to Abbe's Post Office, when he was hit by three shotgun blasts. Three men came out of the palmetto. One shot him again, and one cut his throat.
A coroner's jury was empanelled, visited the scene and returned the verdict: "killed by parties unknown". Nearly all of the jury members were Vigilantes.
One reason given later for Riley's death was that he was living with Widow Mary Suringer, (without benefit of clergy), and that he intended to steal her property. Riley's murder was also a "test" meant to discover whether the authorities (the sheriff lived forty miles away) would do anything about it.
(To Be Continued)..
(C) Copyright, 2007 - 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 information on this page may not be reproduced or republished on any other webpage, website, or publication. Please LINK TO US instead.
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