Tag Archives: Martin County courthouse

CITY OF STUART’S HISTORIC MARKER

June 12, 2026UncategorizedCarrie W. Webb, City of Stuart, Francisca Morgan Interiors, Gilbert's Bar Yacht Club, Hutchinson Island, Martin County courthouse, Sarah E. Hower, Woman's Club of StuartSandy History Lady

Recently the City of Stuart put an historical marker in front of the 1922 bungalow housing Francisca Morgan’s Interior Design Studio. The address is 227 SE Ocean Boulevard and it stands where Florida Avenue meets East Ocean; The Wells Fargo building that is gradually becoming Stuart’s City Hall is on the opposite corner to the east.

Even though the historic marker shows the plat of the East End Subdivision the significance of the developers is not mentioned. Carrie W. Webb and Sarah E. Hower, a widow and a spinster from Chicago, came to Stuart in 1913 and immediately started buying land and developing it. Their first subdivision, the “Webb and Hower,” was in Palm City at the eastern edge of Lighthouse Point where lovely homes look out on the Roosevelt Bridge and Sunset Bay with its docks and restaurants.

At the time, traveling by boat was the way to get around so Carrie Webb’s and Sarah Hower’s subdivision was considered to be part of Stuart. When incorporation was being promoted, articles say the town would extend to the Webb and Hower Subdivision to the west. When Stuart was officially incorporated on May 7, 1914 this was its seal.

The bit of land at the left of the seal contains Webb and Hower’s Subdivision. The Town boundary was the middle of the river so it was not actually in Stuart. However, since the only bridge was the FEC Railway Bridge, it was as easy to go to Palm City by boat to as it was to go anywhere else on the St. Lucie River.

Stuart was surrounded by the St. Lucie River. This made traveling by boat an easy way to get around. There were few roads before a highway bridge over the St. Lucie River was built in 1918.

This 1962 Tax Map shows the area that was the original Town of Stuart, incorporated in 1914. The boundary ran from today’s Palm Beach Road, west to the middle of the St. Lucie River, then around today’s Flagler Park back to its beginning on Palm Beach Road.

When I read the legal description of the Town of Stuart, it took me a while to comprehend. The way the boundary was determined was using the centerline of the channel in the St. Lucie River traveling until it hit the east line of Section 4. Today we can think of it as Palm Beach Road.

Roads in Stuart’s early days were so few this one that had been covered with crushed rock warranted a postcard. When this photograph was taken, the 1908 concrete block school house had yet to be built. Later the road would be 4th Street and in 1961 would be renamed East Ocean Boulevard.

The Stuart School built of concrete blocks manufactured by Frank Frazier, constructed in 1908, was within a few hundred few of Carrie Webb’s and Sarah Hower’s **East End Subdivision**. The school building became the Martin County Court House in 1925 when the county was created.

The ladies’ second subdivision was East End where Francisca Morgan’s Interiors is located was well within the Town (Stuart became a City in 1925 when Martin County was created.

The part Sarah Hower played in founding our public library is of the utmost significance. “The public library, which is considered the greatest achievement of the Woman’s club was started in 1917 when Miss Sara Hower, of the firm of Webb & Hower, suggested the idea and set it afoot by a donation of books.”

When I found this article, I wanted Sarah Hower to be recongized for her part in the creation of our first public library.

It was from this humble beginning in the former Christian Endeavor Hall that Martin County’s outstanding Library System was born.

Sarah Hower and Carrie Webb’s most impressive development was Yacht Club Beach on one hundred acres of Hutchinson Island. It skipped the Gilbert’s Bar Yacht Club land but contains 82 lots where many beautiful oceanfront homes stand today. When the island is broad enough to accommodate them, homes stand on the Indian River as well.

Gilbert’s Bar Yacht Club stood south on Hutchinson Island south of the house of refuge. This photograph was supplied by Errol Willes who was the last living member of the club.

This image captured from the Martin County Property Appraiser’s site, shows most of the lots of Yacht Club Beach in red. The lots nearest the entrance to Sailfish Point are the location of Bathtub Beach and are now owned by Martin County. Martin County also owns the lots where an inlet was formed during hurricanes early in this century. The two lots with red on either side indicate the location of the Yacht Club that were owned by the club’s last living member and sold privately in the 1980s.

It is remarkable that women were land developers in 1914 the same year the Woman’s Club of Stuart that was founded. As stated, Sarah Hower is even credited with the move to establish our public library.

Carrie Webb died in 1924 when she was struck by a car in downtown West Palm Beach. Sarah Hower, who never married, died in a nursing home in West Palm Beach in 1948. The newspaper said she had no known relatives.

Amanda Portwood, of Francesca Morgan Interiors, did a fine job analyzing and reducing the great volume of material provided by Julie Preast our outstanding historical researcher so it could fit on the City of Stuart Historical Marker. However, since we have no photographs of the women who were so active in the community, particularly in regard to our library, I wanted to use the attention brought to Francesca Morgan Interiors to bring attention to Carrie W. Webb and Sarah E. Hower.

The “Travels” of the Statue “Abundance”

December 22, 2025UncategorizedAbundance, Bill Ambler, Historic Downtown Stuart, Martin County Council for the Arts, Martin County courthouse, Memorial Park, Peter Jefferson, Stuart Florida, Woman's Club of StuartSandy History Lady

As reported in an earlier blog the Woman’s Club of Stuart changed its plans to put the statue Abundance in Haney Circle. Instead it was placed on the east lawn of the Martin County Courthouse.

After languishing in a New York City warehouse for years, Abundance arrived in Stuart on a moving truck in 1949,

Rather than offend those who protested, Abundance was placed on the east lawn of the Martin County Courthouse.

When the East Wing of the Martin County Courthouse was added in 1960, Abundance had to relinquish her spot.

On July 21, 1961, Ed Gluckler photographed Abundance neglected and lying on her back in a sand lot behind the city garage on South Flagler.

When the east wing of the courthouse was constructed in 1960 the statue abundance had to be removed.

In 1961, Abundance was placed in Memorial Park by the new Park Superintendent , Englishman Bill Ambler. The Woman’s Club once again chipped in on the cost of installation and landscaping. Although Abundance was beautiful and worth thousands of dollars, our community was not quite ready to give her the proper respect she deserved. The statue was a major focus for teenage pranks. The lesser ones — dressing her in brassieres and bathing suit tops. When Bill Ambler retired he lamented her being sprayed “every color” through the years.

Abundance stood in Memorial Park from October 18, 1961 until April 28, 1991.

Perhaps Abundance was hard to appreciate in her setting in Memorial Park where she stood for 20 years. The location, perhaps to her misfortune, was very close to the Stuart High School.

A postcard issued in the 1960 shows the beautiful flowers planted by Bill Ambler. Although he knew nothing about Florida horticulture when he was hired, the Woman’s Club of Stuart help pay for him to attend seminars and short courses on tropical landscaping.

This postcard showing Abundance was available in the 1960s.

During the revitalization of downtown Stuart, the City of Stuart voted to relocate Abundance to Haney Circle where the Woman’s Club originally planned to place her. Peter Jefferson designed the necessary concrete work with a sidewalk encircling the fountain. Its installation was celebrated in 1991

This snapshot shows the moment Abundance was unveiled in Haney Circle.

Tenants in buildings come and go, but Abundance remains in Haney Circle.

Today, anyone who walks down Osceola Street in Historic Downtown Stuart will encounter our Lady Abundance.

For a number of years a drawing of Abundance graced the “Art is Everywhere” tour folder created by the Martin County Council for the Arts.

Martin County’s Centennial Year is Coming Soon

November 7, 2024Uncategorized1950, American Flag, Arthur Ruhnke, Arthur Sims, Drew King, Governor John W. Martin, Judge A. O. Kanner, Martin County courthouse, Martin County Creation, R. V. Johnson, Stuart Florida, Veteran's Day, WPASandy History Lady

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.

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.