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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.

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.

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.

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.

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