On November 9, 1950, The Stuart News put out a 110-page Historical Edition. It had a cover piece showing the plaque at the right of the courthouse entrance that was to be unveiled on Veteran’s Day, two days later.
This plaque installed 74 years ago is still near the front door of the Court House Cultural Center.
The 110-page Historical Edition of The Stuart News published November 9, 1950 contains a great deal of Martin County History including many first-hand pioneer accounts.
When our family purchased the negatives of local photographer Arthur Ruhnke, the ones immediately appreciated were of the 1950 Veteran’s Day celebration. The Martin County Council for the Arts had just moved into the 1937 addition to the old courthouse.
My favorite shows Dale and Mike Clark sitting on a car trunk in the foreground. Dale Clark had been my husband’s Stuart High School teacher and “Mike,” whose real name was Ella, was a co-founder of the Environmental Studies Center on Indian River Drive in Jensen Beach. Dale Clark was Principal of Jensen Beach Elementary School on Savanna Road when our kids attended.
Arthur Ruhnke captured this scene on Veteran’s Day 1950. The man wearing a straw hat suspenders adds a vintage quality to the photograph.
When the 1937 addition to the old Martin County Courthouse became the Court House Cultural Center, Mark Taylor who taught photography at FIT, colorized a black and white print of the crowd in front of the flag draped building. Before the days of PhotoShop it was very special. The framed photograph may still be on the wall of the Court House Cultural Center.
Lottie Martin, the former Governor’s wife, looks up at her husband at the podium. County Commissioner Arthur Sims stands behind Mrs. Martin, R. V. Johnson, President of the Chamber of Commerce, Governor John W. Martin, Judge A. O. Kanner , Stuart Mayor Drew W. King and Senator Evans Crary are also standing.
The plaque installed in honor of Governor John W. Martin, for whom our county is named still can be seen on the front of the Court House Cultural Center.
My first blog was about compiling A Pictorial History of Palm City with my daughter Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch. The books have arrived from Southeastern Printing, now located in Hialeah. It is time to get them in the hands of those who want them.
Southeastern Printing delivered our books on October 3, 2024
We are having a launch party on the patio of the Palm City Social, a trendy new restaurant in the location of the former Palm City Grill in Martin Downs Village Center on November 21 from 4:00 -7;00 pm. Everyone who wants to buy a book is invited.
Since I had never visited Palm City Social, I drove by and peaked in at the patio after the books arrived. It does seem like a perfect place for our book launch.Beautiful coffee table display.
The beautiful coffee-table style book with its watercolor of palms by acclaimed artist Jerry Rose on its cover should in every Palm City home after Christmas.
Jerry Rose painted the scene soon after he and his wife bought waterfront property from Val Martin, Martin County’s first real book merchant. The painting was a “thank you” to Val.
In 1972, Val Martin sold his bookstore in Stuart located across from Memorial Park and founded Florida Classics Library. He began publishing many valuable out of print books, beginning with Jonathan Dickinson’s Journal. When he died in 2021, at the age of 89, his niece, Julie Alexander took over Florida Classic Library located at 11300 SE Dixie Highway in Hobe Sound.
The painting that graces the dust jacket of A Pictorial History of Palm City was on the wall in Florida Classic Library. Realizing it would make a beautiful cover for our Palm City book, I asked and received permission to use it from both, Julie, the owner, and Jerry, the artist.
To know the King sisters who grew up in the Pelican Hotel is to know about Russell Holloway.
Recently, I talked to Nancy Crawford, oldest of Bill and Nina King’s five daughters who told me “Russell raised us.”
I asked how she felt about Russell Holloway living in East Stuart during the years of segregation. Nancy said that was “just the way it was.”
Movie star Fabian Forte with his wife Kate Regan and Pelican Hotel chef Russell Holloway in 1969.
A picture of Russell Holloway surfaced among images collected by Alice and Greg Luckhardt. It showed Russell with Fabian Forte and his wife Katie Regan. It was taken in 1969 during the filming of the movie about the “Notorious Ashley Gang.” Scenes were taken in the Pelican Hotel and some of the cast and crew of the movie stayed there.
Actors – Karen Black and Fabian as Laura and John in 1969 movie (Luckhardt Collection)
When I reread a 1987 newspaper article about Russell Holloway by Sallie Hughes of the Miami Herald, his life story amazed me. The article was published when Russell was 67, after his Pelican Hotel days. Hughes photographed Russell cooking chicken in an East Stuart convenience store but at that time of his life he was also preparing huge dinners for the Macedonia Baptist Church in Gifford where he was pastor.
Russell Holloway who, during his heyday, cooked in the Waldorf Astoria during the summer season, is shown here cooking in the Speedy Mart on Tarpon Avenue in 1987.
From the Hughes article we learn that Russell was born in Albany, Georgia and moved to Stuart with two of his sisters in 1939. His brother-in-law, George Mitchell, head chef at the Pelican Hotel, taught him to cook and hired him to work at the hotel. Before Russell perfected his cooking crafts he was drafted into the U.S. Army. In Massachusetts, he was preparing to go overseas when he met Gen. George Patton in a chow line. Patton, who knew a good deal about the quality of camp fare asked, “Who’s the cook?” Russell replied, “I’m the cook.”
Sgt. Russell Halloway went with Patton to victories in Morocco and Tunisia, through the siege of Sicily and into Nazi Germany.
When Sallie Hughes asked if he fought? Russell said, “Everybody fought. I have the scars to prove it.” Of course, he also cooked. Provisions were good. A Patton favorite was lamb stew that Patton insisted all the men have when he did.
The fighting cook returned to Stuart and became the Pelican’s top chef.
I know my friend Kay King Norris still uses some of Russell Holloway’s “cooking tricks.”
Imagine my delight when I recently came across this portrait in my own collection of scans of negatives from Earl Dyer Ricou. Although there was no identification, I felt sure it must be Bill King so I sent it to John Norris his grandson and asked if it was his grandfather. The family confirmed it was .
What better way to share the accomplishments of Bill King than through an Ernest Lyons Column? The column was written after local attorney Jim Littman converted the Pelican Hotel to an office building.
The Pelican Hotel placed ads in Annual Fishing Guides distributed by the Martin County Chamber of Commerce. This is page four of the 1950 edition.
Advertisement for the Pelican Hotel from the 1957 Stuart Fishing Guide.
Local residents could buy memberships to the Pelican Hotel swimming pool. My friend Kay King Norris has always sworn that the guy doing a swan dive off the diving board in this photograph was my husband Tom Thurlow Jr. My Tom was not a show off so I’ve always wondered if it could really be true.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Newman Cheek was built beside the Pelican Hotel. It was convenient for eating meals in the hotel dining room.
Boom times did not last. Drew W. King Sr. came to the rescue of the Pelican Hotel in 1928. I was delighted to find the exact date on newspapers.com.
I knew that King Sr. owned and operated the King Hotel in Tullahoma, Tennessee and wondered if he came to Stuart because of a connection with affluent families from the Nashville area who had been guests in the Pelican Hotel. Members of Maxwell House Coffee Cheek family and H. G. Hill family, with 500 grocery stores in Tennessee, were big Pelican Hotel boosters. Newman Cheek built a house adjacent to the hotel that still stands.
This article appeared in the South Florida Developer on December 14, 1928.
After managing the Pelican Hotel for a decade Drew King, Sr. purchased it in 1939 and, with the help of his son Bill, continued to manage it. However, Drew Sr. died in December 1944 at the young age of 61. Two of his three sons were in the US Army. Drew, Jr. was serving in the invasion forces in the Philippines. Grover arrived for the funeral from Camp Beale, California. His daughter, Libba, was married to George Parks Jr. and another daughter, Lillie, was married to Bernard Coker.
Bill and Nina King’s five daughters; Nancy, Kay, Lillie May, Elsie Ann and finally, Quintina, grew up in Stuart and were, and continue to be, very popular. (The Kings’ use of the prefix quin meaning “five” or “fivefold” always makes me smile.)
Dale and Sue Hipson’s wedding reception was held in the Pelican Hotel in 1953, Nancy King, Dale, Sue, Dr. and Mrs. Hipson and Sue’s mother, Mrs. Eric Fletcher stand in the receiving line.
Running the Pelican Hotel was a family affair. When Sue Fletcher, the girls’ cousin came to visit and help out, she was soon married to the town’s young second generation dentist , Dr. H. H. “Dale” Hipson .
There are so many angles to the Kings’ era at the Pelican Hotel, it will take several blogs to cover them.
I reread the article “Looking down from the Third Floor,” by Christina Martinez, written when she was a South Fork High School Student in 1991. The article about the King girls living in the Pelican Hotel, is in Florida Cracker Sampler produced by South Fork High School teachers Paul Catano and Ron Ashley with a grant from the Florida Endowment for the Humanities. (Now Florida Humanities.)
The Florida Cracker Sampler has been scanned in Martin Digital History and is available to all.
I think this link will take you right to the PDF of the Florida Cracker Sampler. You can leaf through the whole book. The article about the King sisters is on pages 70-72. The students who wrote the articles and did the interviews are more than “grown up” now.
The local dream for a huge deep water port within the St. Lucie Inlet has been the subject of previous blogs. Harry Lyons, the father of beloved longtime Stuart News editor, Ernie Lyons, has also been the subject of a blog; as has the Florida Photographic Concern. This blog ties all three together is a surprising way.
Harry Lyons dedicated his harbor song to Stuart, Florida because it was where his health was restored after he worked himself to exhaustion in real estate sales on Chicago’s North Shore.
Fifteen years ago, Juanita Brown Fisher and her husband Jack bought a box of old sheet music at Palm City Auction. “Just One Place for a Harbor” published in 1924 was in the box. The words were written by Harry Lyons and the music was composed by Harry’s brother-in-law Chancellor L. Jenks.
When I saw it, I could not believe my eyes. Juanita has a lovely voice and sang in her church choir. I twisted her arm and had her sing the song acapella for a September 9, 2009 Stuart Heritage program. Juanita has never completely forgiven me but she made herself my friend forever. I have had scanned copies of the sheet music in my computer ever since the program.
Those who know music say this song is “a challenge.”
Ernie Lyons’ sister, Isabel Williams, allowed me to make copies of her family photographs. Among them were photographs of Chancellor Jenks at the piano where he composed the harbor song. Harry Lyons wrote on the photograph saying so.
Harry Lyons wrote” Where music for my Stuart Song was composed in 1924. Chancellor sang for my phonograph records of my song.”
The Jenks home was in the affluent community of Kenilworth near Chicago where Harry Lyons’ success in real estate sales inspired his grand plans for Martin County.
Harry Lyons mentioned phonograph records. His daughter, Isabel, and newspaper articles told of Florida Photographic Concern movies showing what new Martin County had to offer. Although no phonograph records or moving pictures films have survived., Florida Photographic Concern prints continue to be discovered and shared.
This photograph of the proposed harbor site recently came to light through the generosity of Bette “Tootsie” Kindberg.
This vintage postcard shows the Pelican Hotel as it looked in the 1920s.
The former Pelican Hotel stands today as the firm law firm of Gary, Williams, Parenti, Watson & Gary. Its history can be told from many angles, some of them charming, but those will be covered subsequently. The era of the hotel’s management by the King family is a heartwarming one.
I started to write this blog about Governor John Martin’s involvement in hotel’s coming into existence. The birth of Martin County is filled with what is called “conflicts of interests” today.
Governor Martin was on the board of the Griner Company that managed a chain of hotels. An agreement was signed on January 21, 1926 between the Pelican Hotel Co., with John E. Taylor as President and Gerald J. O’Reilly as Secretary and Charles B. Griner as President of the Griner Hotels, Inc. committing Griner Hotels, Inc. to operate the Pelican Hotel.
The Pelican Hotel was financed by W. I. Shuman’s Southland Bond and Mortgage Company. John E. Taylor was the mayor of Stuart. Gerald J. O’ Reilly was the architect of the Pelican Hotel as well as other buildings financed by W. I. Shuman. Taylor, O’Reilly and Shuman were all members of the County Division Committee.
This amazing photograph of the Pelican Hotel under construction was dropped off anonymously at the Stuart Heritage Museum.
The Pelican Hotel was opened just in time for the huge Martin County Birthday Parade. Governor and Mrs. Martin were the first guests to arrive. The Griner organization put on an elaborate reception, banquet, and dance at the Pelican Hotel on January 29, 1926.
Lottie Martin sits beside her husband Florida Governor John W. Martin. (Florida State Archives)
Previous blogs showed the cars, floats, bands and children passing by the reviewing stand at the Pelican Hotel.
I was shocked when I found the following article that was published in The Stuart News on March 26, 1926.
Page one of The Stuart News, March 26, 1926. ( Newspapers.com)
I am afraid my admiration for our county’s founders took a dive.
The twists of fate amaze me.
After the Pelican Hotel was no longer a hotel he was converted to an office building. It was acquired by Willie E. Gary in 1986, remodeled and furnished with elaborate custom-made mahogany furniture.
Gary, Williams, Parenti, Watson & Gary, LLC. Attorneys at Law. Photo taken September 15, 2024..
Willie E. Gary (Internet)
Willie E. Gary is an American lawyer. Gary and his wife Gloria established Martin County’s first Black law firm at the age of 27, presently known as, Gary, Williams, Parenti, Watson, Gary & Gillespie, P.L.L.C. Gary was portrayed by actor Jamie Foxx in the 2023 film The Burial. Wikipedia
Governor Martin and other dignitaries spoke from a platform on what was referred to as the “Yacht Club Grounds.” This would be today’s Flagler Park. The number of people clustered around the platform is quite remarkable considering the small population of in the new County of Martin. (The 1930 US Census Report listed 5111 total population.)
Governor John W. Martin, top hat in hand, addresses the multitudes.
They yacht club referred to was the St. Lucie River Yacht Club, the subject of an earlier blog. Stanley Kitching, the Commodore, hosted a luncheon honoring Governor Martin and his party in the yacht club following the speeches.
St. Lucie River Yacht Club was destroyed in the 1928 hurricane that drowned over two thousand people south of Lake Okeechobee.
At the bottom of this 1925 aerial photograph are: the Riverview Apartments, still standing but now vacant; the Coventry Hotel and Apartments, now flourishing as the Old Colorado Inn; the Platt/Porter House also known as the “Owl House” that is now also part of the Old Colorado Inn vacation rentals. It is easy to pick out the Post Office Arcade with the black roof that goes from Osceola to Seminole Street. It was newly built when the photograph was made.
The huge “Birthday Celebration” for Martin County was held on January 28 and 29, 1926. As mentioned previously, it was basically orchestrated Harry Lyons and Major W. I. Shuman.
Governor John W. Martin, in top hat, welcomes famed Palm Beach architect, Addison Mizner to Stuart during the January 1926 birthday celebration. William G. “Fingy” Conners, developer and builder of the Conners Highway below Lake Okeechobee, looks on. Josephine A. Paradise
After their arrival in Stuart, Gov. and Mrs. Martin checked into the newly built Pelican Hotel. They were the hotel’s first guests. They rested before settling on a parade viewing stand at eleven o’clock
Gov. and Mrs. Martin viewed the Martin County Birthday Parade from this vantage point as school children passed by.
The Martins must have been exhausted after watching a two hour long parade with over 700 decorated automobiles, numerous bands and 500 school children.
This photograph of the school children dressed to represent pioneer families was used on an invitation for a “Old Home Week” at the Elliott Museum in September 2007.
This section cropped from the previous photograph shows, Virginia Dyer, in the dark hat and Isabelle Lyons with the kerchief.
Isabelle Lyons was the daughter of parade organizer Harry Lyons and the sister of beloved Stuart News editor Ernie Lyons. Virginia Dyer, was the daughter of Stuart pioneers Flora and Harry Dyer and the granddaughter Russell and Margaret Frazier for whom Frazier Creek is named.
Sandy Thurlow and Pam Fogt “Old Home Week ” organizers, flank Isabelle Lyons Williams.Jeanne Brock Mills speaks with her mother Virginia Dyer Brock during “Old Home Week.”
One of the most significant parade photographs shows the Lyric Theatre under construction.
The number in the left hand corner identifies this photograph as the work of the Florida Photographic Concern. The images was shared by Ginger Baldwin early director the restored Lyric Theatre.
The photograph of local boosters, wives and political figures witnessing the signing of the bill creating Martin County on May 30, 1925, preserves an important moment.
Left to right seated: John E. Taylor, Mrs. W. I. Shuman, Mrs. Martin and Governor Martin, Mrs. A. W. Young, Senators T. J. Campbell and J. W. Watson. Standing: T. H. Getzen, Representative S. W. Getzen, W. B. Tilton, Major W. I. Shuman, Stuart Mayor Stanley Kitching, J. B. McDonald, Dr. Fons A. Hathaway and A. W. Young. Ashley Family Collection
I wondered about the ages of the men who went to Tallahassee to lobby for a new county, so I looked up their birth dates and did the arithmetic.
John Taylor at the age of 33 in 1925.
Stanley Kitching was 51 years old in 1925.
Jackson McDonald was 63 years old in 1925.
Warner Tilton was 29 years old in 1925.
Thompson Hart Getzen was 34 years old in 1925.
Warner Tilton, at 29 years old, was the youngest of the group. His father-in-law, R. R. Ricco who had big plans for a new county, died unexpectedly and chose Warner to represent his interests. Of the five men from the St. Lucie River region, three were related. Jackson McDonald was the step father of John Taylor and Stanley Kitching was the uncle of John Taylor’s wife.
As I contemplated the men who undertook the creation of a new county, I realized that there was only one attorney in our group, Thompson Hart Getzen. In my mind, it seems likely that having his brother in the legislature must have been a great advantage to the local leaders who wanted a new county. Then, I thought about my husband, Tom Thurlow’s little book The Early Lawyers of Martin County.
Deanna Thurlow designed and supervised the printing of The Early Lawyers of Martin County for her father-in-law. It gives me much satisfaction to have Tom’s research contribute to my blog. Florence Getzen Boushall, Thompson Hart Getzen’s daughter, provided Tom with images and information..
Deanna Thurlow shows her father-in-law the proof of his lawyer book in June 2011.
Sandy History Lady Blog
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