Tag Archives: Governor John W. Martin

Martin County’s Centennial Year is Coming Soon

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.

Martin County Courthouse
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.

The Ironic Legacy of the Pelican Hotel

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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

Such a Crowd!

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.

Glorious Celebration for Martin County

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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 Creation of Martin County

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.

Group witnessing Governor John W. Martin signing bill that created Martin County Florida.
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.

Portrait of John E. Taylor, Mayor of Stuart, President of the Seminole Bank, Representative in Florida Legislature.
John Taylor at the age of 33 in 1925.
Stanley Kitching longtime Chairman of the Florida Inland Navigation District.
Stanley Kitching was 51 years old in 1925.
Portrait of Jackson Beauregard McDonald, first Mayor of Stuart Florida.
Jackson McDonald was 63 years old in 1925.
Warner Belknap Tilton portrait.
Founder of AA in Martin County Florida
Warner Tilton was 29 years old in 1925.
Thomas Hart Getzen portrait.
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.

Information about Thomas Hart Getzen.
Cover of The Early Lawyers of Martin County by Thomas H. Thurlow Jr published in 2011. Former Stuart School modified to Martin County Courthouse.e

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.