.
.
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.
Safety Harbor | San Antonio | Sanibel | Sarasota | Satellite Beach | Sebastian | Sebring | St. Augustine | St. Pete Beach | St. Petersburg | | Sunrise
Safety Harbor (Central West)
Odet Philippe, born in 1787, arrived on the Pinellas peninsula by 1837, previously residing in Charleston, South Carolina, New River (now Ft. Lauderdale) and Key West. Phillippe claimed to have been born in Lyon, France. He was the first non-native, permanent settler in Pinellas County, homesteading his plantation on the northern end of Tampa Bay. He was the first to make cigars in Tampa and the first to cultivate citrus in the area. His introduction of grapefruit to Florida is recognized in the Citrus Hall of Fame. Odet Philippe died in 1869. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Safety Harbor Museum of Regional History, 329 South Bayshore Boulevard, Safety Harbor.
San Antonio (Central West)
Peter A. Demens was born Pyotr Alexeyevich Dementyev May 1, 1850, in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1881, he arrived in Jacksonville and later settled in Longwood, where he bought an 80-acre orange grove and a one-third share in a sawmill. In Longwood he built station houses on the South Florida Railroad branch from Lakeland to Dade City, then negotiated a contract to furnish crossties to the Orange Belt Railway. When Orange Belt partners were unable to pay their debts, Demens took over the charter and rolling stock. He planned to lay rails to the Gulf of Mexico. By the time Demens reached Point Pinellas, June 14, 1888, it was time to name the new town located there. According to legend, by the flip of a coin, Demens got to name St. Petersburg for his birthplace. Demens later bought and operated a planing mill in Asheville, North Carolina and moved to California where he invested in citrus. He died January 21, 1919, at his Alta Loma, California home. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the San Antonio Railroad Depot, 32735 Railroad Avenue, San Antonio.
Judge Edmund F. Dunne, founder of San Antonio, was born July 30, 1835 in Little Falls, New York. He went to California in 1852 where he was elected to the California legislature in 1862. In 1864 he served on the constitutional convention for the new state of Nevada and later served eight terms as a member of the Nevada judiciary. In 1874 President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him chief justice of the Arizona Territory. Dunne’s legal position that Catholics and other religious groups should receive tax funding for their schools caused President Grant to force his resignation. After his removal, Dunne was hired by Hamilton Disston, a wealthy Philadelphia saw manufacturer, to select lands in a four million-acre purchase Disston had made in Florida. In 1881, Dunne was given 50,000 acres of land to begin the Catholic colony of San Antonio. On February 15, 1882, he selected the colony’s site in Pasco County. By 1883 Dunne was promoting the area as "The Sicily of America." The Orange Belt Railroad brought regular shipments of goods and mail to the town and San Antonio was incorporated in 1891. The freezes of 1894 and 1895 decimated San Antonio’s citrus industry but Saint Leo Abbey, Holy Name Priory and Saint Leo University were later founded in the area. Judge Edmund F. Dunne died October 4, 1904. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the San Antonio City Hall, 32819 Pennsylvania Avenue, San Antonio.
James J. Horgan was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, July 14, 1940. He received a Ph.D. in history in 1965 from St. Louis University. He came to San Antonio in 1965 as professor of history at nearby Saint Leo College. He served as chairman of the Division of Social Sciences from 1969 to 1991. His book, Pioneer College, was published as the centennial history of Saint Leo College, Saint Leo Abbey and Holy Name Priory and is used by the City of San Antonio. The Student Government Association at SLC named him Outstanding Faculty Member for the 1986-87 school year and in 1986 he was cited for teaching excellence by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He served two terms as president of the Pasco County Historical Society and was elected to the board of directors of the Florida Historical Society in 1994. He was a founding officer of the Pasco County Chapter of the NAACP in 1968 and received a distinguished service award from the Florida NAACP that same year. During the 1972-73 school year, on sabbatical leave from Saint Leo College, he served as national director of research for the United Farm Workers Union in Keene, California. Horgan was the author or co-editor of 14 books and monographs, among them City of Flight (1984), The Reagan Years (1988), The Catholic Colony of San Antonio, Florida (1989), Pioneer College (1990), Social Justice (1992), The Historic Places of Pasco County (1992), Florida Pathfinders (1994) and Florida Decades (1995). James J. Horgan died May 3, 1997. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the James J. Horgan Home, 12221 Main Street, San Antonio.
Sanibel (Southwest)
Frank P. Bailey, Sanibel pioneer, was born in 1873. He arrived on Sanibel Island in 1894 with his mother and two brothers. They began farming on a leased parcel while they bargained to buy acreage. The family eventually bought a plantation store that combined packing and shipping of their own produce as well as that of other farmers. Bailey co-founded the Sanibel Community Church in 1917, and when Sanibel Packing Company—the name given to the Bailey enterprises—was wiped out by a hurricane in 1926, he rebuilt a larger store in a more secure location. That same year he helped establish Sanibel Community House, a facility that still serves as a center of island activity. In the 1940s he set up a telephone system and served as Justice of the Peace. Frank Bailey operated the general store until his death in 1952. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Old Bailey Store, 950 Dunlop Road, Sanibel.
Sarasota (Southwest)
Owen Burns was born in Maryland in 1869 and first visited Sarasota in 1910 to take advantage local sports fishing. He established the Burns Realty Company and the Burns Dredging Company. Through his Burns Construction Company, he built the Ringling Causeways connecting Sarasota to St. Armands Key, Ringling Isles and Lido Key. All of Lido Key was at one time included in his land holdings. He was instrumental in laying out and paving streets in the city, overseeing the construction of the city’s first seawalls, and building the first co-operative home subdivision, Burns Court in 1925. He also built Sarasota’s El Vernona Hotel, in 1925. Owen Burns died in 1937. His Great Floridian plaque is located at 401 Burns Court, Sarasota.
John L. Early was born December 19, 1896 in Staunton, Virginia. He graduated in three years from Washington and Lee University. After serving in World War I, he studied law at the University of Virginia. He came to Sarasota in October 1924 for health reasons. His practice was devoted largely to civil law. He served as school trustee for six years and attorney for the school board for eight years. In 1934 he was elected state representative from Sarasota County and served three successive terms. Early helped create Myakka State Park in eastern Sarasota County and secured funding for the first four-lane highway in Sarasota. One of the laws he sponsored helped people save their homes during the Depression by excusing back taxes. Early also served as Mayor of Sarasota, from 1953 to 1954. John L. Early died March 9, 1999, at the age of 102. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the John L. Early House, 1841 Oak Street, Sarasota.
Arthur Britton Edwards was born October 2, 1874 on the mainland shore of Sarasota Bay. He opened the first real estate and insurance office in Sarasota in 1903, and worked with leading railroads to attract potential investors to Sarasota. He became the first elected tax assessor of Sarasota, serving from 1907 to 1913. When Sarasota was incorporated as a city, he became its first mayor, position he held until 1920. He played a leading role in the creation of Sarasota County and was commissioned by Governor Cary A. Hardee to establish the county tax assessor’s office and write the first tax books. He was vice president and for many years for many years a director of Sarasota’s first bank. In 1934 he was instrumental, along with Judge Paul C. Albritton, in convincing the State of Florida to purchase 17,500 acres for Myakka River State Park. He was a member of the State Game and Fresh Water Fish Association and first president of the Sarasota Citrus Growers Association. A. B. Edwards died November 15, 1969. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Edwards Theater (Sarasota Opera House), 61 North Pineapple Avenue, Sarasota.
John Hamilton Gillespie was born in Maffat, Dumfrienshire, Scotland in 1852, the son of Sir John Gillespie, head of the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company. He studied law in Edinburgh and in 1886 was sent to Sarasota to represent his father’s company. The company owned the entire original town site, as well as an additional 50,000 acres. He was the only attorney and real estate agent in the community until after 1900. He served as a justice of the peace, and was a founder of the first railroad service in town. Gillespie built the DeSoto Hotel, Sarasota’s first place of lodging. Following the incorporation of Sarasota, he served six one-year terms as mayor and one term as councilman. He has been credited with creating one of the first golf courses in the United States in Sarasota in 1886. He later laid out golf courses in Jacksonville, Kissimmee, Tampa, Bellair and Havana, Cuba. John Hamilton Gillespie died September 7, 1923. His Great Floridian plaque is located at Sarasota City Hall, 1565 First Street, Sarasota.
Dr. Joseph Halton was born c. 1881 in St. Helen’s, Lancashire, England, and came to the United States when he was seven years old. He graduated from Miami Medical College, Oxford, Ohio, and the University of Cincinnati. He settled in Sarasota in 1907 where he joined his brother, Dr. Jack Halton, in the Halton Sanitarium. Later he established a private hospital that grew into a 30-bed institution where he maintained his office. His fellow surgeons named him the first life member of the Florida Medical Association in 1957. Halton was also a fellow of the International College of Surgeons and a member of the Sarasota County Medical Society. In addition to his medical career, he served as a member of the Sarasota Town Council and was president of the council in 1910. In 1951, the American Legion named him Citizen of the Year in recognition of the 1,600 free operations he performed and the medical care he provided for needy children. Dr. Joseph Halton died June 17, 1963. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Halton House, 310 Cocoanut Avenue, Sarasota.
Harry Lee Higel was born in Philadelphia, December 31, 1867. He came to Sarasota in 1884 with other members of the Higel family, and became a staunch supporter of the development of the community. Upon his arrival he purchased a downtown dock where Higel operated his boat, the Nemo, and ran a general mercantile business. Later he bought and operated the steamer Vandalia. Higel was Sarasota’s first retailer of gasoline and kerosene and was the first local agent of the Gulf Refining Company. He handled land sales for Sarasota’s largest landowner, J. Hamilton Gillespie. In 1907 he started development of the north end of Sarasota Key, which he named Siesta. He served five terms as a member of the town council and three terms as mayor. At the time of his death, January 6, 1921, Higel was director of the Bank of Sarasota. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Harry L. Higel House, 3308 Higel Avenue, Sarasota.
David and George Lindsay, son and father, were newspapermen in Sarasota. David Lindsay established the Sarasota Herald in 1925. He served as the newspaper’s publisher until 1938 when the Herald was consolidated with the Sarasota Tribune and continued as publisher of the combined papers until his death in 1946. George Lindsay, father of David Lindsay, served as the editor of the Sarasota Herald from 1925 until it was consolidated with the Sarasota Tribune. George Lindsay was the author of non-sectarian religious editorials, or sermonettes, which he produced each Sunday for 30 years. Two volumes of those editorials were published. The Lindsays’ Great Floridian plaque is located at the Sarasota Herald (Woman’s Exchange) Building, 539 South Orange Avenue, Sarasota.
Andrew McAnsh, born c. 1886, was the builder of the Mira Mar Hotel. He was brought to Sarasota by W. C. Towles in 1922 to replace the 1887 Belle Haven Inn. McAnsh proposed building a hotel, apartments, and an indoor swimming pool. Ground for the Mira Mar Apartments was broken October 6, 1922. McAnsh agreed to construct a first class hotel with the concession that the city would not levy property taxes for 10 years and would provide free water and power for the same time period. Work began on the Mira Mar Hotel in July 1923 and it was completed six months later. McAnsh added an auditorium rather than a swimming pool, and the entire Mira Mar complex was complete by 1924. The Mira Mar was Sarasota’s premier hotel for the next 20 years. The hotel portion of the complex was demolished in 1983 but the Mira Mar Apartments survive. Andrew McAnsh died in 1946. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Mira Mar Apartments, 77 South Palm Avenue, Sarasota.
Thomas Reed Martin was born in 1866 in Menasha, Wisconsin. He came to Sarasota in 1911 and secured his first local commission to construct "The Oaks" for Mrs. Potter Palmer. By 1923 he had established himself as one of the "Builders of Sarasota." He made the original sketches for John Ringling’s home, Ca’ d’ Zan, although his design was not executed. He designed more than 500 houses in the Sarasota area, ranging from "Floridian" homes to the use of glass block and formed concrete in later compositions. His work often reflected modern streamlined forms embellished with Mediterranean Revival features. Some of Martin’s 1920s work included residences for Dr. Fred Albee, a surgeon and real estate developer; John J. McGraw, manager of the New York Giants baseball team; and Samuel W. Gumpertz, a successful showman. He also designed Exhibition Hall, a 1930s Works Progress Administration building. Thomas Reed Martin died in 1949. His Great Floridian plaque is located at 401 Burns Court, Sarasota.
Charles Ringling was born on December 2, 1863 in MacGregor, Iowa. He was one of seven brothers who formed the Ringling Brothers Circus in the late 1880s. By 1920, only two brothers remained, John and Charles. John Ringling was the public face of the circus, while Charles ensured day to day operations. Both John and Charles invested heavily in Sarasota real estate after their arrival in 1911. In contrast to his brother’s interest in developing Sarasota’s coastal areas, Charles Ringling invested in the downtown. He bought the old Gillespie golf course and developed the city’s business district. He was president of the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, 1925-26, during which time he built the Sarasota Terrace Hotel. Ringling founded his own bank, the Ringling Bank and Trust Company and gave property to the county for a courthouse. Charles and Edith Ringling built their Sarasota home in 1925 next to his brother John’s residence, Ca’ d’Zan. Designed in the Italian Renaissance style, it was completed in 1926 at a cost of $800,000. Charles Ringling died on December 3, 1926. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Charles Ringling Building, 1927 Ringling Boulevard, Sarasota.
John Ringling was born in 1866 in MacGregor, Iowa. Together with his brothers he founded the most successful circus in the world in 1884. John took control of the circus after his brother Charles died in 1926. In 1905 he married Mable Burton and they began spending winters in Florida, first in Tarpon Springs and Tampa and ultimately in Sarasota. In 1926 he built the exotic Venetian palace, Ca’ d’Zan (Venetian dialect for "House of John") in Sarasota. The circus industry was a critical element of Ringling’s early financial success, and it was the vehicle that allowed him to indulge his love of art. During his circus years, he collected more than 600 Baroque masterpieces. His collection of Rubens’ work is thought to be the finest in the world. Upon his death in 1936, John Ringling willed his art museum, residence and its entire contents to the State of Florida. His Great Floridian plaque is located at Ca’ d’Zan, 5401 Bayshore Road, Sarasota.
Marie Selby was born Mariah Minshall, August 9, 1885 in Wood County, West Virginia. She attended a music seminary in Illinois, after which she met William Selby, a partner in the Selby Oil and Gas Company (which later created the Texaco Oil Company). They were married in 1908. William Selby brought Marie to Sarasota the year after their marriage. They built their bayfront residence in 1921. Marie created a garden for the property, enhancing it with flowerbeds and borders of flowers. The garden specializes in epiphytes (air plants) and has what many consider the most beautiful botanical garden collection of orchids in the United States. Marie Selby willed the property to the community as a garden; it was opened to the public in 1975. The Selbys also established the William and Marie Selby Foundation in 1955. Since its inception, the foundation has gifted more than 3,000 grants totaling $50 million for education and scholarships. Marie Selby died June 9, 1971. Her great Floridian plaque is located at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 926 South Palm Avenue, Sarasota.
Ernest Arthur Smith was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, July 18, 1878. He led one of the largest automobile distributing agencies in New England. He retired in 1921 and came to Sarasota where he entered the real estate business and became President of the Sarasota Abstract Company. In 1922 he helped reorganize the Chamber of Commerce. In 1931, Smith was elected Mayor of Sarasota and served for 12 years. During his six terms, water mains were extended to outlying communities, a water softening plant was built and fire hydrants installed, thus cutting insurance rates. Smith led the movement to acquire land for the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, a municipal airport and the Chidsey Memorial Library. With the help of the Garden Club and other organizations, he made the municipal park into a city asset. Ernest Arthur Smith died in 1962. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, 801 North Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.
Karl Wallenda, patriarch of the Great Wallendas, a circus high wire act, was born in Magdeburg, Germany, in 1905. He learned wire walking from Louis Weitzmann and began to develop his own act, recruiting his brother Herman, an aerialist named Josef Geiger, and a teenage girl, Helen Kreis, who became his wife. When John Ringling saw them performing in Cuba in 1928 he contracted with them to appear in his circus. The Great Wallendas were headliners with the Ringling Brothers circus during the 1930s and 1940s. In 1947 in Sarasota, Wallenda created a seven-person pyramid for the act. Karl Wallenda died March 22, 1978 while performing on the high wire in Puerto Rico. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Karl Wallenda House, 1622 Arlington Street, Sarasota.
Satellite Beach (Central East)
Percy L. Hedgecock was born in 1916 in North Carolina. After operating a construction business he came to Florida, first settling in Miami in 1952 and then moving to Brevard County in 1956. In August 1957, after the City of Satellite Beach was incorporated, Hedgecock became the first mayor and was elected to eight consecutive terms. While serving on the County School Board he negotiated the sale of an 80-acre tract on which was built a complete K-12 public school complex. He was also instrumental in the county’s acquisition of the only oceanfront park in the city. Hedgecock traveled to Southeast Asia and the Soviet Union to seek Americans missing in action from the Vietnam War and to promote international cooperation. He was a member of service organizations, including the Lions Club and the Brevard County United Appeal. He assisted with the founding of Brevard Engineering College and served on the Board of Trustees of the Florida Institute of Technology. Percy L. Hedgecock died in 1987. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Satellite Beach City hall, 565 Cassia Boulevard, Satellite Beach.
Sebastian (Central East)
Paul Kroegal was born January 9, 1864, the son of a German immigrant who homesteaded in the Sebastian area in 1881. Kroegal studied navigation and obtained his captain’s papers when he was 21. He was the first County commissioner of St. Lucie County in 1905, and was chairman of the board that built the first paved road from Micco to Stuart and the first bridge across the Sebastian River. Opposed to the shooting of pelicans for plumes, he campaigned to protect them, which resulted in a 1901state law protecting all non-game birds. On March 14, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt issued an Executive Order setting aside Pelican Island as a nature preserve and breeding ground for native birds. Kroegal was appointed the first National Wildlife Refuge warden in America. He held this position until 1926. Paul Kroegal died March 8, 1948 at his Sebastian home. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Paul Kroegal Memorial Statue, Riverview Park, Fellsmere Road and Indian River Drive, Sebastian.
Sebring (Central)
Margaret Shippen Roebling was born in 1867 in Bernardsville, New Jersey. About 1930, while she and her husband were building a home in Lake Placid, Mrs. Roebling became aware of efforts to purchase and preserve Hooker’s Hammock. The National Park System had previously declined to acquire it. The State of Florida did not have the means to purchase parkland, so Mrs. Roebling donated $25,000 to enable local citizens to purchase acreage. She then donated another $25,000 for a subsequent purchase. In 1930, after only a few of her ideas had been carried out, Mrs. Roebling died. Her husband completed her work as a memorial to her. The family ultimately donated a total of $400 to $500,000 to the project. The 8,140-acre Highlands Hammock State Park opened to the public in 1931, is one of the oldest state parks and one of the earliest examples of grass-roots public support for environmental preservation in Florida. Mrs. Roebling’s Great Floridian plaque is located in front of an interpretive display at Highlands Hammock State Park.
St. Augustine (Northeast)
Dr. Andrew Anderson, Jr., was born in St. Augustine in 1839, a few months before his father died of yellow fever. He received his medical degree from Princeton University in 1865 and in 1874 was one of 14 physicians to form the Florida Medical Association. He wintered in St. Augustine until 1895 when he married Mary Elizabeth Smethurst, and they became full-time residents. Anderson became a close friend of Henry Flagler, and in 1888 supervised the construction of Flagler’s two hotels, the Ponce de Leon and the Alcazar. Much of the Flagler property in downtown St. Augustine was purchased from Dr. Anderson. Anderson contributed the Carrera marble lions that guard the approach to the Bridge of Lions from downtown to Anastasia Island. Dr. Anderson also donated money to Flagler Hospital, the Memorial Presbyterian Church and the University of Florida. He died in 1924. His Great Floridian plaque is located at Markland, 102 King Street, St. Augustine. [info verified by Russ Jackson, FMA-A Century of Medicine, U of F Press, author Merritt; The Medical Profession in 19th Century Florida, author E. Ashley Hammond, Smathers Library.]
Frank B. Butler, born in Georgia in 1885, was a businessman, civic and political leader and founder of one of the few beaches for African-Americans in Florida. He operated a grocery store beginning in 1914 and the following year went into the real estate business. His company developed the College Park subdivision. He was the only African-American citizen from Florida to have an exhibit at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago and was the first in Florida to serve on a grand jury. Butler began the development of Butler Beach, south of St. Augustine, in response to segregated beaches nearby. This site and American Beach north of Jacksonville were popular vacation resorts for African-Americans from northeast Florida and southeast Georgia. Frank B. Butler died in 1973. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Butler House, 87A Washington Street, St. Augustine.
Felix deCrano, born in France in 1842, came to St. Augustine from Philadelphia in 1893 as part of Henry Flagler's "artist colony." As part of his resort complex, Flagler established a studio for half a dozen young artists. DeCrano was an accomplished portrait, landscape, genre and still life painter whose garden views and flower paintings became popular with the tourists who purchased them. The St. Augustine artist colony was discontinued in 1902 when Flagler and his entourage relocated to Palm Beach. DeCrano died September 15, 1908 in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. His works continue to be collected and represent landscapes from New England, St. Augustine and Europe, locations where he studied and worked. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Ponce de Leon Studios, Valencia and Cordova Streets, St. Augustine.
Earl Cunningham was born in Maine in 1893. He moved to St. Augustine in 1949 where he developed as a self-taught American folk artist. His work included paintings of early 20th century schooners and portrayals of Seminole Indian life that he infused with images of Viking ships. Cunningham’s work went largely unappreciated during his lifetime. Not until 1986 when his works were exhibited through a partnership between the center for American Art and New York University was his ability as a folk artist recognized. Earl Cunningham died in 1977. Mr. Cunningham’s work may be seen at the Mennello Museum of American Folk Art, 900 E. Princeton St., Orlando, Florida. For over thirty years, the museum has received more than 300 Cunningham paintings. His Great Floridian plaque is located at 1080 North Ponce de Leon Boulevard, St. Augustine.
Anna Maria Dummett, was born in Barbados, Bahamas in 1819 to English parents. In 1830 they came to Florida where they occupied a sugar plantation near present-day Titusville. As the Seminole Wars accelerated, the family moved to St. Augustine. In 1845 she inherited the Garcia-Dummett House (now the St. Francis Inn) and operated it as a boarding house. During the Civil War, she cared for the children of her brother-in-law General Hardee, volunteered as a nurse and may have been a Confederate spy. In 1866 she returned to St. Augustine and helped found the ladies Memorial Association, serving as president until her death in 1899. She helped establish a Confederate memorial on the Plaza. When the United Daughters of the Confederacy formed a chapter in St. Augustine, the women named it after Anna Dummett. Her Great Floridian plaque is located at the Garcia-Dummett House/St. Francis Inn, 279 St. George Street, St. Augustine.
Louisa Fatio was born in 1797 to settlers at New Switzerland on the St. John’s River located west of St. Augustine. She was born on the family’s 10,000-acre plantation, which was burned during the War of 1812. The family returned to New Switzerland and rebuilt the plantation house between 1822 and 1824. In 1836, she moved to St. Augustine and began operating a boarding house. Miss Fatio was known for the fine table she kept at a house on the bay front, and at another establishment on south St. George Street. She purchased property at 22 Aviles Street in 1855. For 20 years, the Fatio House was highly regarded as one of St. Augustine’s inns. Visitors included Abijah Gilbert, Reconstruction senator from Florida, and nieces of James Fenimore Cooper, including Constance Fenimore Woolson. Louisa Fatio died in 1875. Her Great Floridian plaque is located at the Ximenez-Fatio House, 22 Aviles Street, St. Augustine.
Henry Morrison Flagler was born in Hopewell, New York in 1830. Following the Civil War, he entered into a partnership with John D. Rockefeller and Samuel Andrews to found Standard Oil Company. In 1885, Flagler came to St. Augustine and met Dr. Andrew Anderson. With Dr. Anderson’s help, Flagler constructed the Hotel Ponce de Leon in 1888. Flagler invested $60 million of his fortune in the development of Florida’s East Coast, first through his hotels, then through his railroads and the land purchases that accompanied them. He crowned his career by extending the Florida East Coast Railway across the open sea to Key West. In addition to his coastal railroads and hotels, Flagler also financed agricultural enterprises and founded the Florida Power and Light Company. Henry Morrison Flagler died in 1913 and is buried in St. Augustine. His Great Floridian plaque is located at Flagler College, 74 King Street, St. Augustine.
Walter B. Fraser, born in Flowery Branch, Georgia in 1888, was one of nine children of a circuit Methodist minister. In 1912 he became Superintendent of Schools in Worth County, Georgia and began to explore southeast Georgia and north Florida. In 1927 he purchased the St. Augustine estate of Dr. Luella McConnell, known as the "Fountain of Youth." From 1933 to 1943 Fraser served on the City Commission, the last seven of those years as mayor. He served in the Florida Senate from 1944 to 1948. During the 1930s Fraser organized St. Augustine’s first formal restoration movement, Colonial St. Augustine, Inc. This was the forerunner of the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board. Research was undertaken, properties acquired and significant sites developed for interpretation by Colonial St. Augustine, Inc. He donated the statues of Ponce de Leon and Pedro Menendez that flank U.S. 1 at the North City Gate. Walter B. Fraser died in 1972. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Oldest School House, 14 St. George Street, St. Augustine.
Nina Hawkins was born in 1889 at Lake George in Putnam County and lived there until 1900 when her family moved to St. Augustine. In 1909, she received a teaching certificate from Stetson University. The following year she accepted a job with the St. Augustine Record as a society reporter. Hawkins became City Editor and, by 1925, was Managing Editor. Nine years later she was appointed Editor by the Flagler Board of Trustees, the first Florida woman to do so without being related to a newspaper owner. She served in that capacity until her retirement in 1953. She co-founded the Florida Women’s Press Club and was a founder of the St. Augustine Art Association. When St. Augustine’s historic preservation movement began during the 1930s, Hawkins focused the newspaper on local history and historic preservation to aid the effort. Nina Hawkins died in 1972. Her Great Floridian plaque is located at the St. Augustine Record Building, 158 Cordova Street, St. Augustine.
Martin Johnson Heade was born in 1819 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. His father, a prosperous farmer, encouraged him to paint. He worked as a portrait and genre painter early in his life, and later turned to painting landscapes, especially salt marshes. In 1883 he married, bought a house and settled in St. Augustine. He had a wealthy patron in Henry Flagler, who furnished Heade with a studio at his Ponce de Leon Hotel. Heade’s popularity and income declined as Flagler extended his railroad further south from St. Augustine and his hotel patrons continued with it. Martin Johnson Heade died in 1904. His work was largely overlooked until 1945, when a Museum of Modern Art exhibition included one of his paintings. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Ponce de Leon Studios, Valencia Street, St. Augustine.
Lawerence Lewis, Jr. was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, July 6, 1918. That same year he moved with his family to St. Augustine. He attended the University of Virginia. During the 1960s he rose from executive president to chairman of the Flagler Systems, a company formed by the merger of the Florida East Coast Hotel Company and the Model Land Company. Lewis established Flagler College, an independent liberal arts college in St. Augustine in 1968. The college is housed in the former Hotel Ponce de Leon, built by Henry Flagler in 1888. Renovation and transformation costs of the hotel as Flagler College totaled more than $14 million. This undertaking was planned and executed under the leadership of Lewis and was funded by him and the members of his family, the Flagler Foundation and the Kenan Charitable Trust. Lewis’ contributions to the college included scholarships, endowments and new buildings. Lewis was the president of both the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board and the St. Augustine Foundation. In 1995 Lewis was made an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects, the highest honor given to a non-architect by the organization. The University of Virginia later established the Lewis Chair in Architecture. Lawerence Lewis died in 1995. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Lewis House, 18 Valencia Street, St. Augustine.
William Wing Loring was born in 1818 in Wilmington, North Carolina. In 1834 he served with the Florida Militia in the Seminole Indian War. He became a lawyer and in 1841was appointed governor of the Florida Territory. In 1845 he was elected from St. Johns County to the House of Representatives of the new State of Florida. He served in the Mexican War in 1847 and in the 1850s spent eight years with the U. S. Army in the West. In 1860 he was appointed Brigadier General in the Confederate Army. He served in West Virginia, Vicksburg and the Atlanta campaign where he was severely wounded. After the Civil War he led a contingent of Union and Confederate officers to Egypt where he spent eight years as head of the country’s defense. In 1880 Loring returned to St. Augustine and then to New York City. After lecturing for a number of years he died in 1886. His Great Floridian plaque is located at Loring Plot, 138 St. George Street, St. Augustine.
Dr. Luella Day McConnell was born in 1870 in Baltimore, Maryland. She was a practicing physician in Chicago, when, in 1898 she succumbed to "gold rush fever" and relocated to Dawson, a trading post that became the capital of the Yukon Territory. She was outspoken about graft and corruption in the territorial government, and officials passed laws that precluded her ability to practice medicine. About 1904, "Diamond Lil", as she was known, arrived in St. Augustine. She bought land adjacent to the Matanzas Inlet north of the Mission de Nombre de Dios and created the Fountain of Youth tourist attraction. Until her death in 1927, in St. Augustine, she fabricated stories to amuse and appall the city’s residents. Her Great Floridian plaque is located at the Fountain of Youth, 11 Magnolia Street, St. Augustine.
Albert Manucy, born in 1910, was the authoritative scholar on St. Augustine history and architecture. After graduating with a Master’s degree from the University of Florida in 1934, he went to work for the National Park Service, and studied the Castillo de San Marcos in detail. He published his first book, The Houses of St. Augustine, 1566-1821, and explored Spanish architecture on a Fulbright scholarship. In 1966 he became curator for the Southeast Regional Office of the Park Service. In 1977, he published Sixteenth Century St. Augustine: The People and Their Homes. He discovered that from 1566 to 1572, the town of St. Augustine was actually situated on Anastasia Island, not on the mainland. This was later confirmed by historians. Albert Manucy died in 1997. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the National Park Service Administration Building, 1 Castillo Drive, St. Augustine.
Pedro Menendez de Aviles, born in Spain in 1519, was a Spanish Naval Officer and founder of St. Augustine. At the age of 35 he was appointed captain-general of the Indies fleet and in June, 1565 sailed with his fleet from Cadiz to Florida. From his landfall near Cape Canaveral he sailed north to Jean Ribaut’s French fleet at Fort Caroline. It was during this voyage looking for Ribaut, probably on September 4, 1656, that he located a "good harbor, with a good beach," to which he gave the name St. Augustine. Near the mouth of the St. Johns River, he scattered Ribaut’s forces and took his fleet back to St. Augustine, where on the morning of September 8th he came ashore and founded the city. Using St. Augustine as his base, he marched overland to Fort Caroline and on September 20th captured it. He proceeded to explore the Florida peninsula and to establish Spanish posts on both coasts, at Port Royal and in Chesapeake Bay. He died in 1574. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Pedro Menendez de Aviles Statue, 75 King Street, St. Augustine.
Prince Napoleon Achille Murat, the Crown Prince of Naples, was born in 1801. In physical appearance, he resembled his uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte. Murat came to St. Augustine in the spring of 1824, and quickly became woven into the social fabric of the community. He joined the Masonic lodge, became a bondsman of the city treasurer and dabbled in local politics. While living in New Orleans and Tallahassee, Murat studied and wrote about the law and government, publishing A Moral and Political Sketch of the United States of North America in 1832 and other works. After unsuccessfully pursuing the Bonaparte inheritance in Europe in the late 1830s, Murat and his wife Catherine, retired to their Tallahassee plantation. There, he died April 15, 1847 at the age of 46. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Prince Murat House, 250 St. George Street, St. Augustine.
Francisco Pellicer was born in Minorca around 1747. He was 21 when he left Minorca and landed in New Smyrna. After entering into a partnership, he and Jose Peso de Burgo bought a lot on St. George Street in St. Augustine where they built a house. Pellicer was one of only a dozen carpenters in St. Augustine and prospered. He bought land on present-day Orange Street and sold his house on St. George Street. Later he moved his family to a larger farm south of St. Augustine on the Matanzas River. Today the creek and the surrounding area bear his name, Pellicer Creek. His house on St. George Street has been reconstructed and bears his name. Francisco Pellicer died c. 1820. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Pellicer House, 53 St. George Street, St. Augustine.
Xavier Lopez Pellicer was born in St. Augustine, February 8, 1900, one of nine children of Andrew Joseph and Josephine Lopez Pellicer. He attended the Rutgers School of Banking, went to work for the St. Augustine National Bank in 1919 and retired as a senior vice president in 1966. He served as president of the Rotary Club; president of the Board of Trustees of Flagler Hospital and trustee for 40 years; president and director of the St. Augustine Historical Society; president of the Florida Bankers Association and president of the Florida Forestry Association. Pellicer also served for seven years as a national director of the American Forestry Association and for three years on the Florida Board of Forestry and Parks during the term of Governor Millard Caldwell. During the restoration of the Llambias House in St. Augustine, he met Fernando Rubio of Mahon, Minorca. They were responsible for the donation of a bronze statue commemorating the Minorcans. Xavier Lopez Pellicer died in 1990. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Llambias House, 31 St. Francis Street, St. Augustine.
Verle A. Pope, 51st president of the Florida Senate, was born in Jacksonville, December 12, 1903. He spent most of his life in St. Augustine where he became a successful businessman and one of St. Johns County’s largest landowners. He first entered politics in 1934 as a candidate for the St. Johns County Commission. He won a seat in the Florida House of Representatives in 1942 but resigned to enter the U. S. Army. He returned to St. Augustine in 1945 and in 1948 was elected to the Florida Senate. He served as Senate President from 1966 to 1968. Pope helped approve the Florida Constitutional revision of 1968, establish the community college system, create the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board and advance the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. He donated 40 acres of land to the St. Augustine Technical School and contributed to historic preservation in St. Augustine. Verle A. Pope died at his St. Augustine home July 18, 1973. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, 207 North San Marco Avenue, St. Augustine.
Robert L. Ripley was born December 25, 1893 in Santa Rosa, California. His Believe It Or Not cartoon panel was a staple of American newspapers in the first half of the 20th century. The cartoon featured true-life oddities from around the world, always with the tagline "Believe It . . . Or Not!" Ripley’s first cartoon appeared in the New York Globe in 1918. As his readership grew, he began traveling abroad to find information, eventually claiming to have visited 198 different countries. He owned three homes in Florida, one of which was located in Palm Beach. Although Ripley never lived in St. Augustine, he often passed the Castle Warden building and spoke of it as an ideal showplace. After his death, May 27, 1949, the building became home to a unique collection of art objects, oddities and curiosities. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Ripley’s Believe or Not Museum, 19 San Marco Avenue, St. Augustine.
General Edmund Kirby Smith, born in 1824 in St. Augustine, graduated from West Point in 1845 and served in the army during the Mexican War. He resigned from the U. S. Army to join the Confederacy. He served under generals Joseph Johnston, Gustave Beauregard and Braxton Bragg and was instrumental in Confederate success at the First Battle of Bull Run in Virginia. In 1863, he was promoted to Lieutenant General commanding the Trans-Mississippi Department, the highest-ranking Confederate officer in the western campaign. On May 26, 1865, he surrendered his troops, the last major Confederate army to surrender. Following the war, Kirby Smith served as president of a telegraph company, then of the Western Military Academy in Nashville, and became a mathematics teacher at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. General Edmund Kirby Smith died in 1893, the last surviving full general of either army. His Great Floridian plaque is Sequi-Kirby Smith House, 12 Aviles Street, St. Augustine.
Frances Kirby Smith, born in 1785, was St. Augustine’s most successful Confederate spy. Though born in Connecticut, she and her husband Judge Joseph Lee Smith moved to St. Augustine about 1820. For months before and during the Union occupation of Fort Marion (Castillo de San Marcos) she orchestrated the transport of mail to Confederate troops. At the same time, she entertained Union officers and learned of planned maneuvers, passing the knowledge to the Confederate Army. In the spring of 1863, the federal government ordered the removal of Southern sympathizers from their homes. After the war Smith returned to St. Augustine and lived for another decade, a Confederate supporter until the end. Francis Kirby Smith died in 1875. Her Great Floridian plaque is Sequi-Kirby Smith House, 12 Aviles Street, St. Augustine.
Franklin Waldo Smith was born in Boston, Massachusetts, October 9, 1826. A prominent architect, his accomplishments in Boston included renovation of the Tremont Temple. Smith and his wife decided to maintain a winter residence in St. Augustine, and built the Villa Zorayda based on the Moorish architecture of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. To construct the building he used reinforced concrete mixed with coquina, a mix of shell fragments and quartz sand found in deposits around the city. He encouraged Henry Flagler to use Spanish architecture for his St. Augustine hotels and to use the poured concrete and coquina method of construction. In 1891 he built the Casa Monica Hotel in the Moorish Revival style to complement Flagler’s Ponce de Leon and Alcazar Hotels. Smith’s architectural design influenced William G. Warden of Standard Oil, who built the Castle Warden in the Moorish Revival style. An early preservationist, Smith recommended that future construction in St. Augustine conform to the city’s Spanish architectural heritage. Franklin Waldo Smith died in 1911. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Casa Monica Hotel, 99 Cordova Street, St. Augustine.
Thomas Buckingham Smith was born in 1810 on Cumberland Island, Georgia. In 1820, upon his father’s appointment as U.S. Consul to Mexico, he moved to St. Augustine with his mother and younger sister. In 1836 he graduated from Harvard Law School and returned to St. Augustine to practice law. Smith served a term on the city council and, in 1841, a term in the Florida Territorial Legislature. From 1850 until 1868, he held foreign service offices in Mexico and Spain. During these years, he researched Spanish settlement in Florida. He translated numerous documents from Spanish or Portuguese to English including The Narrative of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca (1851) and Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto in the Conquest of Florida, as told by a Knight of Elvas (1866), and authored several important publications. Although Smith and his mother were slave owners, he supported the Union in the Civil War. His will provided a life estate to one of his former slaves and cash to others. The remainder of his estate became the Buckingham Smith Benevolent Association, a corporation that benefits African-Americans in St. Augustine. This fund is partially responsible for recent nursing home construction in the city. In 1868 he was appointed tax commissioner in Florida, but in 1870, relocated to New York City and died there the following year. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Huguenot Cemetery, Castillo Drive, St. Augustine.
Elizabeth Morley Towers was born in 1899. She came to St. Augustine in 1918 shortly before she married and moved to Jacksonville. When the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America acquired the Ximenez-Fatio House in downtown St. Augustine in 1939, she served as the house chairman overseeing the building’s restoration. Her duties included researching and collecting photographs and memorabilia for the museum and fundraising to complete the project. For 40 years she was involved with historic preservation in St. Augustine. She served on the St. Augustine Preservation Board and helped restore the Hispanic Garden. Her final preservation project was the restoration of the Joaneda House. Under three Florida governors she served on the State Park Board. Elizabeth Morley Towers died in 1985. Her Great Floridian plaque is located at the Joaneda House, 57 Treasury Street, St. Augustine.
Henry L. Twine was born in 1923 in Tallahassee, Florida and spent his adult life working for the betterment of the African-American community in St. Augustine. He served as president of the local NAACP chapter during the 1960s Civil Rights movement, and was a member of the Democratic Party’s Executive Committee. During his three terms on the St. Augustine City Commission he gained a reputation as a consensus builder. He served two terms as the city’s first African-American vice mayor. Henry L. Twine died in 1994. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Twine House, 163 Twine Street, St. Augustine.
F. Charles Usina was born in 1903 and educated in St. Augustine. He was a State Representative for 11 terms from 1943 until 1966, and was noted for his work on the public health committees. He was a champion of the State Mental Health program and helped pass legislation benefiting the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine. He served on the school’s Board of Trustees from 1963 to 1966, and the school’s stadium is named for him. Representative Usina was a Past President and Lt. Governor of the Kiwanis, Past President of the Chamber of Commerce and the Past Deputy Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus. He was also a member of the Elks Club, the Loyal Order of Moose, the St. Augustine Historical Society and the Committee of 100. F. Charles Usina died in 1966. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the F. Charles Usina Athletic Field, Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, 207 North San Marco Avenue, St. Augustine.
Father Felix Varela was born in Santiago, Cuba, November 20, 1788. After the death of his mother, he was placed in the care of his maternal grandfather, an officer at the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine. He was ordained a priest in 1811 and was designated a Professor of Philosophy at the Seminary College of San Carlos y San Ambrosia in Havana. In 1823, he moved to New York City where he conducted his ministry for 30 years. There he founded schools for children, built churches and evangelized the poor. Varela was an outspoken advocate for Cuban independence and worked to improve the conditions of African-Americans. Poor health forced him to retire to St. Augustine where he died February 18, 1853. He was buried in the city’s Tolomato Cemetery but was re-interred in 1911 in Havana where a national shrine was built in his honor. In 1985 the Holy See authorized the Cuban Episcopate to begin the canonical process on the sainthood of Father Varela. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Basilica-Cathedral of St. Augustine, 36 Cathedral Place, St. Augustine.
Emily Lloyd Wilson was born c. 1868 in Altoona, Pennsylvania. After studying at the Philadelphia School of Design, her interest in art encouraged her to visit St. Augustine in 1901 when Henry Flagler’s artist colony was in residence at the Ponce de Leon studios. She purchased a residence at 280 St. George Street and lived there each winter until she was 90 years old. From 1919 to 1953 she researched the history of the city. She traveled repeatedly to Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. in search of information, and during her summers in New Jersey she solicited documents and maps for review. Wilson secured copies of old maps, documents and Spanish records which became the basis for the St. Augustine Historical Society’s library. She served as librarian and historian. When city officials began to resurrect the colonial city in the 1930s, her research provided valuable information. Emily Lloyd Wilson died in 1960. Her Great Floridian plaque is located at the Webb Building, 18 St. Francis Street, St. Augustine.
St. Pete Beach (Central West)
Frank T. Hurley was born August 16, 1898 on the Sioux Indian Reservation at Fort Peck, Montana and graduated from Gonzaga College in 1917. He spent World Wars I and II on the General Staff of the U.S. Army and in 1944, was assigned to General Dwight Eisenhower’s Supreme Headquarters in Europe. He retired because of disabilities in late 1945, and moved to Pass-a-Grille Beach. In 1948 he formed Frank T. Hurley Associates, Inc., Realtors. He became director of the St. Petersburg Board of Realtors, president and lifetime director of the Gulf Beach-Seminole Board of Realtors, president of the Gulf Coast Mortgage Company, and served on the boards of private and civic organizations. From 1957 to 1965 Hurley headed the Long Key Sewer District, which consolidated Long Key’s four small towns—Pass-a-Grille Beach, Don Ce-Sar Place, Belle Vista Beach and St. Petersburg Beach—into present-day St. Petersburg Beach (now named St. Pete Beach). Frank T. Hurley died March 9, 1966. His Great Floridian plaque is located at Colonel Frank T. Hurley Park, Gulf Way between 15th and 16th Avenues, St. Pete Beach.
Thomas J. Rowe was born June 14, 1872 in Cambridge Post, Massachusetts. Educated in England, he returned to the U.S. at 21 and moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where he dealt in real estate for more than 20 years. In 1919 he moved to St. Petersburg where he decided to build a large hotel on the beach. Construction began in 1926 and the hotel opened January 16, 1928. Even though the real estate boom was nearing an end, Rowe parlayed a $21,000 investment into a fortune of over $1million. Rowe named the hotel after his favorite opera star, Don Caesae de Bazan from the opera "Maritana." Thomas J. Rowe died at the Don CeSar Hotel, May 5, 1940. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Don CeSar Beach Resort & Spa, 3400 Gulf Boulevard, St. Pete Beach.
St. Petersburg (Central West)
Earl Morrow Clark was born May 5, 1915 in Hamlet, North Carolina. He came to Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg in 1946 and taught French and Spanish. In 1948 he was named Headmaster and served 28 years. During his tenure, he added a new academic building, a new science building, a new gym and a new swimming pool. He was a member of the Southern Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges, the Association of Military Schools and Colleges of the United States, and the Southern Association of Independent Schools. In 1958 Clark was appointed to the Florida Committee of Southern Schools and Colleges and, as a representative of Florida, became a member of the Central Reviewing Committee of the Association. In 1976 the Florida Committee Secondary Commission issued a special citation to him for his outstanding contribution to education. Earl Morrow Clark died February 25, 1976. His great Floridian plaque is located on the Clark Building, Admiral Farragut Academy, 501 Park Street North, St. Petersburg.
Dr. Paul R. Hortin was born in 1903 in Albion, Illinois. He graduated from Garrett Biblical Institute in 1931, obtaining his Doctor of Divinity Degree in 1941. He came to St. Petersburg to begin the longest ministry at any one church in the Florida Methodist Conference: 41 years. Christ United Methodist Church in downtown St. Petersburg, was founded in 1890, and under Dr. Hortin’s leadership, the sanctuary was completed in 1953. He carried out his ministry not only from the pulpit but also on fishing expeditions, hunting trips and in travelogues. The Religious Heritage of America recognized Hortin in 1969 with the Religious Service Citation for "outstanding service to God and mankind." The City of St. Petersburg gave him the Silver Citizen Award and made him Sportsman of the Year. Dr. Paul Hortin died in 1990. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Christ Methodist Church, First Avenue North at Fifth Street, St. Petersburg.
Stuart (Southeast)
Morris Raiford Johns was born September 3, 1867 in Orange County, Florida. He left the Orlando area when he was in his early twenties for the town of Rockledge in Brevard County. He established a reputation there as a skilled farmer. When O. K. Woods and his two brothers came to Stuart in 1889 to farm pineapples, they hired Morris to oversee their plantings. In 1894 he homesteaded a 160-acre parcel of land and, following his marriage, established a successful pineapple plantation. Johns later operated a grocery, dry cleaning service, and funeral home. In the 1920s he became deputy sheriff of Juno. He died in the line of duty, October 1, 1924. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Martin County Cultural Arts Center, East Ocean Boulevard, Stuart.
Walter Kitching, born in 1846, came to Stuart, then called Potsdam, in 1883. He was a merchant, philanthropist, justice of the peace, notary public, banker and superintendent of the Methodist Sunday School. In 1894 he persuaded Henry Flagler to bring his Florida East Coast (FEC) Railroad through Stuart rather than Sewall’s Point, and to build a ferry landing on the south side of the river. Kitching offered Flagler $200 and all the land he needed to bring the FEC line through Stuart. Flagler accepted the land but not the cash, and the FEC line is still active today in Stuart. Walter Kitching died in 1932. His Great Floridian plaque is located at his former residence, 210 Atlanta Avenue, Stuart.
George W. Parks, was born January 28, 1876 at Seven Springs, North Carolina. He came to Jensen on the Florida East Coast when he was 17. Parks built the Stuart Feed Store in 1901 and raised his family in the upstairs apartment. (The store is now renovated and operates as a museum.) The store remained in the Parks’ family until 1946. He helped found Stuart’s first bank in 1912, served on the town council, and as mayor. Parks helped incorporate the Town of Stuart in 1914 and was instrumental in the formation of Martin County in 1925. He brought Gulf Oil to Stuart in 1908 and went into business with C. E. (Riley) Christensen in the Stuart Mercantile Company from 1911 to 1924. George W. Parks died in 1943. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Stuart Feed Store, 161 S.W. Flagler Avenue, Stuart.
Text sent by relative Nancy Padberg on Nov. 5, 02
George W. Parks, was born January 28, 1876 at Seven Springs, North Carolina. He moved with his family when he was seven to Altoona in Lake County and then came to Jensen on the Florida East Coast when he was 17. Parks was a pioneer in Stuart’s early history, building the present-day Stuart Feed Store (now renovated and operating as a museum) in 1901 to provide necessary commodities for the town’s people. He raised his family in the building’s upstairs apartment, and the store remained in the Parks’ family until 1946. He was instrumental in the founding of Stuart’s first bank in 1912 and served on the Town Council, as well as mayor. He was one of the organizers to incorporate the Town of Stuart in 1914 and was instrumental in the formation of Martin County in 1925. He brought Gulf Oil to Stuart in 1908 and went into business with C. E. (Riley) Christensen in the Stuart Mercantile Company from 1911 to 1924. He was a member of the Rotary Club, Masonic Lodge, Chamber of Commerce (then called the Commercial Club) and Woodmen of the World. George W. Parks died in 1943. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Stuart Feed Store, 161 S.W. Flagler Avenue, Stuart.
James R. Pomeroy, born in 1872, came to Florida in 1900 from Croswell, Michigan. He taught school and was principal of Fort Pierce and Stuart schools between 1900 and 1925. In 1910 he became a member and later served a term as Superintendent of the Palm Beach County School Board, while continuing to teach and serve as principal in Stuart. He managed the East Coast Lumber Company in Stuart and in 1914 was one of the charter members for the incorporation of the town, after which he served as president of the Town Council. During these years Pomeroy bought land, and planted and sold pineapples, under the name of the Silk Oak Pinery. In 1918 he was appointed Postmaster of the Stuart Post Office. When Martin County was created in 1925, he was appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court and remained in the position until his death in 1949. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Martin County Cultural Arts Center, East Ocean Boulevard, Stuart.
Sunrise (Southeast)
Dan Pearl was born in 1910. A former New York State parole officer, he retired and moved to Sunrise in 1972. He was appointed to the City Commission in 1978, then was elected to office in 1979. He served as assistant deputy mayor, deputy mayor and mayor of Sunrise from 1989 to 1993. Broward County’s largest branch library bears his name. It was built in Sunrise after much effort by Pearl. He was a member of numerous boards and organizations, including the Florida League of Cities, the Gold Coast League of Cities, the Broward Planning Council, the South Florida Regional Planning Council and the American Cancer Society. Dan Pearl died in 1996. His Great Floridian plaque is located at the Sunrise Dan Pearl Library, 10500 West Oakland Park Boulevard, Sunrise. (No file)
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.