Tag Archives: History

Back to the Beginning

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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.
A Pictorial History of Palm City, Florida
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.

Jerry Rose

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.

https://floridaclassicslibrary.com

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.

Glorious Celebration for Martin County

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This is a link to all of my blogs:https://sandyhistorylady.com

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.

Billy Bowlegs’ Family Portrait taken in Hill Studio

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One of the most important postcards in my collection is of Billy Bowlegs with his sister, Lucy Pearce and her daughters, Ada and Annie. I knew the portrait was the work of Harry Hill because his name is on another version of the postcard. The group portrait also appears on page 100 in A Portrait of St. Lucie County, Florida by Lucille Rieley Rights.

This full color postcard was published by H. & W.B. Drew Co. of Jacksonville, Florida.

Imagine my delight when among the images in a photo album my husband, Tom Thurlow, purchase on eBay in 2006 is one showing the Indians walking down a road after their photo session.

The Indian River can be seen in the distance.

I will write more about the album that contained the photograph of the Seminole Indians in Ft. Pierce in my next blog.

The Hellier Family and the Florida Photographic Concern

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A previous blog focused on Walter Hellier’s book, Indian River Florida’s Treasure Coast filled with photographs from the Florida Photographic Concern

A series of curious coincidences brought me in contact with his granddaughters who had a fabulous collection Florida Photographic Concern photos. They allowed me to scan them. There were several dozen with a wide range of subjects but just a few could be directly .connected to today’s Martin County.

This Hill rattlesnake portrait could illustrate the many that once inhabited the St. Lucie River region.
 

 

This photograph was among the many Walter Hellier’s granddaughters let me scan. It has a local connection because the sailboat is flying the burgee of the Gilbert’s Bar Yacht Club that had a clubhouse south of the House of Refuge on Hutchinson Island. Many of our well-to-do pioneers were members.

Jim Hutchinson, Mary VanDerlofske and Susie Bryant

Walter Helier’s granddaughters, Marilyn VanDerlofske and Susan Bryant, residents of Palm Beach County, were happy to visit me because they could also visit my famous-artist neighbor , the late Jim Hutchinson. This photograph of the three of them was taken on February 8, 2018.

Learning of Stanley Kitching’s and Harry Hill’s Early Association

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Stanley Kitching arrived on the Indian River from England with his parents as a ten-year-old boy in 1884.Harry Hill came to the east coast of Florida in 1894 as he was approaching 30.

They were both Southeast Florida pioneers. After setting up apiaries in New Smyrna and Spruce Bluff, Harry moved to Ft. Pierce with his wife Kate and young son, Lowell. The family previously lived in Titusville, Pennsylvania, not to be confused with Titusville, Florida. What a conscience! Stanley Kitching was using Harry Hill’s photographs as soon as the Florida Photographic Concern was founded.

The above item is in the archives of the Historical Society of Martin County located in the Elliott Museum.

Stanley Kitching secured rights to use Harry Hill’s photographs on postcards he had printed in Germany just like big firms like Hugh L. Leighton of Maine and other large publishers.

Above is the front and back of a postcard published by Stanley Kitching. There are a dozen or so others. It shows that there was an early commercial relationship between Stanley Kitching and the Florida

Using the Information Highway

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The work of the Florida Photographic Concern of Fort Pierce is an under-appreciated treasure. My husband and I collected everything we could connected to the Harry Hill family and their Florida Photographic Concern. Now, by going to    newspaper.com the Hills’ historical photographs have added significance

This photograph has been displayed in various places in Ft. Pierce without information to go with it. By studying other photographs, the driver can be identified as Lowell Hill. His father, Harry Hill’s face appears over his shoulder. The woman beside Harry is Lowell’s mother Katherine Hill. The woman at extreme left is unidentified. Fred Hill, Harry’s bother (Lowell’s uncle) is in the passenger seat. (St. Lucie Regional History Center)

http://St. Lucie Regional History Center

This advertisement published in the April 4, 1913 St. Lucie News Tribune enables us to identify the car. It also tells us the the Hills’ business was growing.

I had never heard of a H.B. McIntyre automobile!