Parade Archives - Sandy History Lady Blog

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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.

In an earlier blog about the South Florida Developer, I credited Martin County’s creation to Edwin Menninger. My history colleague, Rick Crary, has educated me about the impact Major Shuman, a new man on the scene in the early 1920s, had getting Governor Martin to support the creation of a new county and financing the building boom associated with Martin County’s creation.

This photograph of Major William Irvin Shuman was cropped from a group photo of local men with Governor John W. Martin in Tallahassee . (Courtesy Ashley Family)

Major William Erving Shuman’s Southland Bond & Mortgage Company financed numerous local building projects.

The Post Office Arcade on Osceola Street was financed by Southland Bond & Mortgage Company.

This photograph of Harry Lyons as he looked in 1925 was recently shared by his grandson William Lyons.

Harry Lyons featured in my last blog was certainly in the thick of things. With all of the Lyons generated publicity for Stuart Shores, the big development on land on either side of the Welcome Arch, I began to suspect he was involved it the plans for Stuart Shores. Research, using newspapers.com, proved this to be so.

Harry Lyons and Major Shuman were quite a team when they focused their energies into planning a two day event celebrating Martin County’s creation. Dignitaries were invited, bands played, a lavish dinner was held, and a parade, the likes of which was never been matched in Martin County, took place.

Sandy History Lady Blog

Tag Archives: Parade

Glorious Celebration for Martin County

Martin County Promotion by Harry Lyons and Major Shuman