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Great Floridians @ Florida OCHP

The Great Floridians 2000 Program

A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P Q S T V W Z

Choose the first letter of a city name to see its Great Floridians.

Madison (North Central)

Edwin B. Browning, Sr., was born July 20, 1904 at Lovett, Madison County. At age 19 he began teaching at Garbett’s Crossing in Madison County. He became the principal of Simmons School three years later. He served as Madison County School superintendent from 1932 to 1953. He was elected president of the State Association of County School Superintendents in 1943 and president of the Florida Education Association, from 1944 to 1946. He worked for the passage of the Minimum Foundation Act that set up the Teacher Retirement Fund. As coordinator of School Accreditation for the Florida Department of Education, he laid the foundation for evaluating schools on the basis of objective criteria. Browning was founder of the Madison County Historical Society, correspondent for the Enterprise-Recorder and wrote a weekly column. His "North Florida Scene" radio broadcasts won the Florida Media Award from the Florida Historical Society in 1971. He also contributed to the Florida Historical Quarterly. He was instrumental in erecting 17 historical makers in Madison County. Edwin B. Browning died in 1981. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the District School Board Office, 312 Northeast Duval Street, Madison.

Marco Island (Southwest)

Tommie Camilla Stephens Barfield was born in 1888. She came to Marco Island with her family in 1901. They purchased a house from James Madison Barfield, who became her husband in 1906. In 1910 she turned her home into a small hotel and produced candies, jellies and specialties for her guests. By the late 1920s, she produced 60,000 pounds of honey a year. Barfield lobbied Lee County Commissioners for better roads, schools and amenities lacking on Marco Island. At one commission meeting she met Barron Gift Collier and together they worked for the creation of Collier County, which occurred May 8, 1923. She lobbied for schools and teachers and Governor Cary Hardee appointed her first superintendent of Collier County Schools. She served as superintendent and remained on the school board for 20 years. Tommie Barfield Elementary School is named in her honor. Tommie Camilla Stephens Barfield died in 1949. Her Great Floridian plaque is located at the Tommie Barfield Elementary School, 101 Kirkwood Street, Marco Island.

William David "Captain Bill" Collier was born September 20, 1852, a son of the first American settler on Marco Island. In 1883 he opened a mercantile store on Marco Island, when it was the only port between Punta Rassa and Key West. In 1895, he discovered one of the richest collections of ceremonial and utilitarian Calusa Indian artifacts in North America. This led to a major archaeological excavation, the 1895-96 Pepper Hearst Expedition. The excavation recovered 2,500 artifacts, all of which Collier donated to museums and institutions of higher learning. In 1910 Collier helped establish a clam factory on Marco Island. He invented a clam-dredging machine that allowed more rapid harvesting of clams at a greater depth. Collier also served two years on the Lee County Board of County Commissioners before Collier County was formed in 1923. William David Collier died April 23, 1934. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Old Marco Island Inn & Suites, 100 Royal Palm Boulevard, Marco Island.

Marianna (Northwest)

Dr. Theophilus West was born September 5, 1836 in Leon County, Florida. A graduate of Oglethorpe Medical College in Savannah, Georgia, he came to Marianna in 1859 to practice medicine. He served as a surgeon with General Robert E. Lee’s army in northern Virginia. For many years after the war, he was a prominent physician and druggist, and was agent for the state Board of Health in Jackson County. He was the first superintendent of Public Schools for Jackson County and served as mayor of Marianna. He was also a State Senator representing Jackson County in 1907 and 1909. Dr. Theophilus West died April 10, 1923 in Marianna. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Davis-West House, 4448 Putnam Street, Marianna.

Mary Esther (Northwest)

Dr. James Hartley Beal was born in 1861 in Ohio. A scientist and pharmacist, he came to Camp Walton (now Fort Walton Beach) in 1915. Dr. Beal collected plants and shells, and used his yacht to follow the east and west coasts of Florida in search of them. His collections were kept in his Camp Walton office. In 1940 his collection of shells was donated to the Beal-Maltbie Shell Museum at Rollins College in Winter Park and in 1988 to the Florida State Museum at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Dr. Beal is also remembered for his contributions to Camp Walton. The first public water and sewer system in Fort Walton Beach was created from his artesian well in 1944, and he donated land to the city. Dr. Beal died in 1945. His Great Floridian plaque is located at 2820 Highway 98 West, Mary Esther.

Thomas Jefferson Pryor, Jr. was born March 25, 1902 in Mary Esther. A lifelong resident of Florida, he became a successful businessman, managing the family’s general store. When the town was incorporated in 1946 he was elected to the first city council. He served on the council for two years, then was elected mayor in 1958, serving 28 years. He worked to preserve the city’s ambiance and was instrumental in preserving many oak trees. Pryor was the recipient of the 1979 E. Harris Drew Award from the Florida League of Cities, honoring a local government official who has made a lasting contribution to the citizens of Florida. The Mary Esther library was named in his honor in 1992. Thomas Jefferson Pryor, Jr. died March 3, 1989 in Mary Esther. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Mary Esther City Hall, 195 Christobal Road, Mary Esther.

Melbourne (Central East)

Joe Wickham was born in Ames, Iowa, December 20, 1911. After graduating from Eau Gallie High School in 1929, he surveyed the untouched land of Merritt Island and the beaches. Wickham worked with the U.S. Coastal Geodetic Service and for the Guerin Construction Company where he became a partner. He formed the Wickham and Jessup Construction Company. During World War II he was construction superintendent for the Melbourne Air Station and a construction officer in the South Pacific. After the war, Wickham and Jessup became the largest construction Company in Brevard County. In 1947 he was elected councilman for Eau Gallie, and in 1952 to the Brevard County Commission where he served 24 years. He established the county’s first mosquito control program and a solid waste program. Wickham Park was named in his honor. Joe Wickham died in 2000. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Eau Gallie Civic Center, 1551 Highland Avenue, Melbourne.

Miami (Southeast)

Dana A. Dorsey, Miami’s first black millionaire, was born in Quitman, Georgia in 1868. He moved to Miami in the 1890s. He was an organizer of the Mount Zion Baptist Church and later owned the Negro Savings Bank, two hotels, and a portfolio of rental properties in Miami and in Broward County. He donated land in Liberty City for a high school built in 1937 and named for him. He also donated the land on which the Dorsey Memorial Library was built. Dana A. Dorsey died in 1940. His Great Floridian plaque will be located at the Dorsey Memorial Library, 100 Northwest 17th Street, Miami.

Dr. David Grandison Fairchild, born April 7, 1869, was a horticulturist. Educated at Kansas State Agricultural College, Oberlin College, Florida State College and Kansas State University, he worked for the United States Department of Agriculture. There he established the Division of Plant Exploration and Introduction in 1898. Fairchild introduced more than 75,000 new plants to the United States for cultivation. From 1924 until his retirement, his scientific research was conducted aboard the Utowana, a vessel built as a floating laboratory. Dr. Fairchild retired to Miami in 1935, sharing knowledge with Colonel Robert Montgomery who founded the Fairchild Tropical Garden in 1938. Dr. David Grandison Fairchild died August 6, 1954. His Great Floridian plaque is located at The Kampong, 4013 Douglas Road, Coconut Grove.

Jose Marti was born January 28, 1853 in Havana, Cuba. He came to the United States to unite the exile community in the struggle for Cuban independence from Spain. His speeches, prose and energy culminated in the founding of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in 1894. Marti was a frequent guest of Paulina and Ruperto Pedroso. Paulina nursed him back to health after his tiring travels through Florida. He was killed May 19, 1895 in the first battle against the Spanish Royalist army at Dos Rios, Cuba. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Miami Freedom Tower, 600 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami.

Catherine Hauberg Sweeney was born in 1914 in Rock Island, Illinois. A botanist, philanthropist and preservationist, she is recognized for efforts to preserve her Coconut Grove estate, The Kampong. Developed by horticulturist Dr. David Fairchild, The Kampong contains rare and exotic tropical plants. Sweeney acquired the property in 1963 from the Fairchild family and later gifted it to the National Tropical Botanical Garden. She was a trustee of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, the American Horticultural Society, the World Wildlife Fund and Conservation Foundation and was a Member-at-Large of the Garden Club of America. Her husband Edward Sweeney was president of the Explorers Club, and she helped fund the purchase of the organization’s headquarters building in New York. Catherine Hauberg Sweeney died in 1995. Her Great Floridian plaque is located at her Coconut Grove residence, The Kampong, 4013 Douglas Road, Coconut Grove.

Miami Beach (Southeast)

Barbara Baer Capitman, born in 1920, founded the Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL) which started the Miami Beach Art Deco preservation movement. She led in the formation of the Miami Beach Architectural Historic District, the nation’s only Art Deco district to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Her efforts to protect Art Deco architecture led to the founding of Art Deco societies in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Boston and New York. Capitman was also the founder of the World Congress on Art Deco. She was the author of three books: American Trademarks, Deco Delights and Rediscovering Art Deco U.S.A. In 1993 The Miami Herald named her one of the 100 most important people in the history of South Florida. Barbara Baer Capitman died in 1990. Her Great Floridian plaque is located at the Cardozo Hotel, 1300 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach.

John Stiles Collins, born in 1837, was a horticulturist from New Jersey who came to Florida in 1896 to pursue agricultural interests. He kept winter homes in Hypoluxo Beach and in the Miami area. In 1909 Collins purchased 1,675 acres of swampland on a barrier island east of Miami and established the largest avocado grove in the world. In 1912, he dredged the Collins Canal, linking the oceanfront to Biscayne Bay, then began work on the Collins Bridge across Biscayne Bay, linking the beach to the city of Miami. The bridge provided the first roadway access to Miami Beach. Collins and his family formed the Miami Beach Improvement Company in 1911, the first official use of the name "Miami Beach." They built a casino, oceanfront hotel and began residential development of the island. John Stiles Collins died in 1928. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Miami Beach Cultural Campus (Library and Arts Center), Collins Park, Miami Beach.

Stephen J. Cranman was born November 19, 1955 in Miami Beach and graduated from Miami-Dade Community College and Florida International University. He spent his entire career working in Dade County. Though he was president of a marketing firm, his biggest challenge came as founding executive director of the Perrine-Cutler Ridge Council, an economic development organization created in 1992 to help rebuild the Perrine-Cutler Ridge area following hurricane Andrew. Under his leadership, businesses were attracted to the area and more than 3,000 new jobs added, along with tax revenue. Cranman was instrumental in the U.S. 1 Beautification Project, the Palmetto Golf Course Community Center, and the South Miami-Dade Cultural Center. He received many marketing and advertising awards and was honored at the local , state and national levels for his commitment to community development. Stephen J. Cranman died in June, 1998, while attending the Annual Conference of the American Economic Development Council. His Great Floridian Plaque is located at the Chamber South Office Building, 900 Perrine Avenue, Perrine.

L. Murray Dixon was born in 1901 in Live Oak, Florida. He was educated at the Georgia Institute of Technology and lived in Miami Beach as a practicing architect for the last 27 years of his life. Together with Henry Hohauser, he developed the Tropical Art Deco style of architecture that became the signature of the Miami Beach Architectural District. He was the architect of more than 100 surviving buildings in the district. L. Murray Dixon died in 1949. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Tiffany Hotel, 801 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach.

John J. Farrey, born in 1880 in North Carolina, moved to Miami Beach in 1922 and worked for the City of Miami Beach for 30 years. Following the hurricane of 1926, he was appointed Chief Building, Plumbing and Electrical Inspector. He was assigned to inspect all Miami Beach buildings and recommend a building code for the city. He initiated and enforced the first building code in Miami Beach, which more than 5,000 United States cities duplicated. John J. Farrey died December 8, 1953. His Great Floridian plaque is located at Old Miami Beach City Hall, 1130 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach.

Carl Graham Fisher, born in 1874, came to Miami in 1910 from Indianapolis where he had built the Indianapolis Speedway. He financed completion of the Collins Bridge in 1913, dredged Biscayne Bay to create its vast residential islands, built several luxury hotels, promoted the image of South Florida in nationwide publicity, and attracted the wealthy and celebrated. In 1915 Fisher’s transcontinental Lincoln Highway was opened, followed by his Dixie Highway connecting Upper Michigan to Miami. Privately built by sponsors recruited by Fisher, these were the predecessors to the Interstate highway system. Carl Graham Fisher died in 1939. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Van Dyke Building, 1641 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach.

Henry Hohauser was born in 1885 in New York City and educated at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. He came to Miami in 1932 and was a practicing architect in Miami Beach for more than 20 years. Hohauser’s firm designed more than 300 buildings in the Miami area and he is credited with being the originator of modernism in Miami Beach. The Art Deco style in his work contributed to the success of the Miami Beach Architectural District. Henry Hohauser died in 1963. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Park Central Hotel, 640 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach.

Anna Brenner Meyers was born December 18, 1896 in Lodz, Poland. She graduated from Columbia University’s State Teacher’s College, the Brooklyn Law School and the New York School State School for Social Workers. She moved to Miami in 1935 and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1936. Appointed to the Dade County Board of Public Instruction to fill a vacancy in 1953, she served for 18 years and helped integrate one of the largest school systems in the United States. Meyers led efforts to create Miami-Dade Community College and helped found the first educational television station in Florida. In the 1940s, she fought Florida laws prohibiting married women from making legally binding contracts. Her honors include the Eleanor Roosevelt-Israel Humanitarian Award; the Leonard L. Abess Human Relations Award, Anti-Defamation League; Dade County Woman of the Year, and honorary law degrees from the University of Miami and Bethune-Cookman College. Anna Brenner Meyers died on November 8, 1983 in Miami Beach. Her Great Floridian plaque is located at Crystal House, 5055 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach.

Miami Springs (Southeast)

Glenn Hammond Curtiss was born May 21, 1878 in Hammondsport, New York. At the age of 22 he opened a bicycle shop and started experimenting with motors and bicycle racing. He became interested in aeronautics in 1904 when balloonist Capt. Thomas Baldwin ordered a Curtiss motor for his dirigible, the California Arrow. Additional orders flowed into the G.H. Curtiss Manufacturing Company for similar motors. When Dr. Alexander Graham Bell formed the Aerial Experiment Association in 1907, Curtiss was asked to join as director of experiments. On May 22, 1908, Curtiss made his first airplane flight in the Whitewing. He went on to win the Scientific American Trophy three times for his June Bug in 1908, the Gold Bug in 1909 and the Albany Flyer in 1910. In 1916 Curtiss came to South Florida seeking land for an aviation school. Near Miami, he developed three suburban communities around distinct architectural styles: Hialeah (Mission style); Miami Springs (Pueblo Revival style); and Opa-locka (Moorish Revival style). Glenn Hammond Curtiss died in 1930. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Glenn H. Curtiss Mansion, 500 Deer Run, Miami Springs.

Micanopy (North Central)

Chief Micanopy was the chief of the Seminole Nation during the Second Seminole War. His capital village was Cuscowilla, built at the crossing of two ancient Indian trails, which later became the American settlement of Micanopy. Chief Micanopy at first was friendly and helpful to the Americans. As time went on, disputes broke out over land, farms and treaties. The Seminoles were forced against their will to live on a reservation and hostilities began. After seven bloody years of the 2^nd Seminole War (1835-1842), Chief Micanopy and the remnants of his Alachua band were captured and sent to the Oklahoma Territory where he died January 2, 1849. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Micanopy Town Hall, 706 Northeast Cholokka Boulevard, Micanopy.

Dr. Archie and Marjorie Carr worked to preserve the environment. Born in 1909, Dr. Carr was a graduate research professor at the University of Florida and an internationally known biologist and environmentalist. He published numerous scientific papers and was the author of Travels of a Naturalist in Africa, High Jungles and Low, The Windward Road and A Naturalist in Florida. He also authored the Time-Life books, The Reptiles and The Everglades. Among the honors he received were the O’Henry Memorial Award for Short Story Writing and the John Burroughs Medal for Nature Writing. Dr. Carr died in 1987. Born in 1915, Marjorie Carr graduated from the Florida State College for Women and received her Master’s degree in Zoology from the University of Florida in 1942. She was the first woman wildlife specialist hired by the U.S. Bureau of Fish and Wildlife. While her children were growing up, she worked to beautify the town of Micanopy to reflect its heritage. She was the founder of Florida Defenders of the Environment, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Building in Tallahassee is named in her honor. Marjorie Carr died in 1998. The Great Floridian plaque for Dr. Archie and Marjorie Carr is located at the Thrasher Warehouse, 607 Northeast Cholokka Boulevard, Micanopy.

Milton (Northwest)

Bennett C. Russell was born in 1944. He was a Santa Rosa County native and grew up in the Fidelis community. He attended Pensacola Junior College and received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Louisville in 1971 and a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from the University of West Florida in 1975. He first taught and then served as assistant principal at Pace High School. In 1979 he became Santa Rosa County School superintendent, a position he held for 20 years. During his administration all school media centers and records were automated and most classrooms equipped with instructional television. He was named 1995 Florida Superintendent of the Year and twice named Santa Rosa County Man of the Year by the Santa Rosa County Chamber of Commerce. He was one of eleven Florida superintendents who received full certification as superintendent or chief executive officer of a public school system. In 1991 Russell served as the Santa Rosa County United Way Chairman, raising $319,000, the highest amount ever raised in Santa Rosa County. Bennett C. Russell died in 1999. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the School Administration Building, 603 Canal Street, Milton.

Montverde (Central)

Reuben Wyatt Harper was born June 30, 1863 in Belmont, Alabama. He received private tutoring and attended Belmont Academy. In 1885 he came to Montverde where he entered the citrus business. About 1910, he and two partners formed the R.W. Harper Company, a fruit brokerage company with its own groves and packinghouse. In 1912, he was also one of the founders of the Montverde School, a private institution. Later he entered the real estate field, and for 22 years, beginning in 1892, was the freight and express agent in Montverde. He served as city councilman of Montverde and was a member of the Florida Citrus Mutual, Citrus Exchange and the Lake Region Packers Association. He was a Woodman of the World and a Mason of Winter Garden Lodge. Reuben Wyatt Harper died in 1960. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the R.W. Harper Home, 17408 Porter Avenue, Montverde.

A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P Q S T V W Z

Choose the first letter of a city name to see its Great Floridians.