September 28, 1997

Casino And Pier Was A Popular Englewood "Speakeasy"

Folks out Englewood way are all worked up over a proposal to build a pier and shoreside restaurant near the Charlotte County public beach. There was no such opposition in 1923 to a similar facility at the foot of Dearborn St.

Late that year, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Chapin -- grocers in Arcadia -- visited Englewood and were entranced with its bay-oriented life style.

They went to Pete Buchan's shore-side grocery for picnic food and exchanged trade talk with the proprietor. Chapin discovered the store was for lease. The Buchans wanted to move to Tampa where their daughter Margaret could go to school. The two men struck a deal then and there.

During Chapin's operation of the store, he joined with a man named Royal to build a casino at the end of Buchan dock. Remember, this was in the 'Roaring Twenties.'

The Royal Casino was complete with bootleg whiskey, slot machines, dance band and good food. It was the most popular spot in the Lemon Bay area -- especially with the winter crowd at Boca Grande dodging Prohibition.

Chapin ran the store and casino for four years then gave up his lease. The casino closed. It and the store remained empty for two years while Englewood expanded rapidly during the Florida Land Boom.

Jack Pate, a retired grocer at Englewood, recalls the fate of the Royal Casino. "My father and two brothers bought the casino building and took it apart piece by piece. With the material they built a nice two-bedroom home still occupied on Dearborn St."

The bubble burst in 1929 and was followed by the Great Depression.

* * *

The Nichols brothers of Englewood, Ill.-- Herbert, Howard, and Ira -- founded the community now straddling the Charlotte-Sarasota county line in 1896 and named it after their hometown. However, Peter E. Buchan (pronounced Buck-an) provided the spark to make it grow.

A few people built houses at Englewood, and James A. MacKenzie of Chicago built a saw mill at the end of Yale St.

Lot sales were disappointing. Without home construction there was no market for lumber. There was no highway to the development. Access was only by boat.

To attract settlers and sportsmen, the Nichols built the Englewood Inn in 1898 and leased MacKenzie's mill building for a general store and post office.

Out on Manasota Key, Charles Dishong operated a fishing camp. Charles Johnson had a little store to supply the men there.

Steve Chadwick, a North Carolina fishermen working from Cortez Island ( Venice), visited the Dishong camp. Impressed with the wealth of fish available in Lemon Bay, he brought his brothers, Hubbard and Clay, to Manasota Key in 1898. They began shipping fish to packing houses in Punta Gorda.

This was pretty much the extent of development at Englewood when Peter Buchan and his wife Florence arrived in 1902.

Jack Tate says they were from Dahlonega, Ga. Pete married Miss Florence Jerome, and they located at Orlando. One day Pete fell under a moving train he was trying to board and lost his left leg. Thereafter, he wore a wooden leg, but it never slowed him down.

Somewhere Pete knew the Chadwick brothers. A year after they started the Chadwick Fish Company he accepted their offer of a job as bookkeeper. The Buchans lived for the first few months with one of the Chadwick boys in Punta Gorda -- then located at the Englewood main office.

Pete struck out on his own in 1908 as manager of the Nichols' store, but gave it up after two years. The Englewood Inn burned the following year, and there just wasn't enough business. The Buchan's left the area -- probably for Tampa.

They returned in 1912 for a visit. As soon as Pete walked in the store H. K. Nichols exclaimed, "Hi. Have you come back to buy the store?"

That was not Pete's intention, but the price was so attractive he finally agreed. He got the inventory for $315 and assumed the building lease with MacKenzie for $10 per month

Things were tough at first. With the store, Pete became the postmaster of Englewood, but a big day consisted of selling six stamps. To increase the volume of mail necessary to keep the post office in operation, Pete made little boxes for single grapefruits and mailed them to friends.

To attract more people, Pete organized a work group of other settlers to open up Blind Pass. They believed a second inlet would be convenient for fishermen and increase the fish population.

They rounded up some mules and drag-scoops and began work. They got water flowing through a passage about a foot deep at low tide. However, the channel filled back up after the first storm.

More people were moving into the area, and business was better. Therefore, the following year Pete bought all of the bay-side corner of Dearborn and Olive streets from Mrs. Winifred E. Watson for $100

Also in 1913, Pete was elected to the board of trustees for the Englewood School District. His and Florence's only child, Margaret, was born the following year.

Pete did not save up enough money for a new store -- with living quarters above -- until 1916. That building now is a handsome home still in the Tate family. Buchan also built a 250-foot dock where supplies could be delivered by schooner from Tampa.

The year 1921 was a momentous one for the Buchans. Little Margaret, age seven, was sent to live with friends in Sebring during the school year in order to be properly educated.

The Great Hurricane of 1921 flooded all the Englewood coast with chest-deep water. Pete and Florence had seen lesser storms drive water up to the store's walk so were not alarmed at first.

This time, however, the fierce wind blew the store-home off its blocks and split the lower floor. The outside stairs were torn loose.

Pete decided the time had come to abandon the damaged building. He tied bed sheets together and lowered Florence to the raging water below. Then he followed, carrying his watch in his mouth to keep it dry.

The Buchans waded up to the home of Prof. Edward Somermeier who was retired from Ohio State University. His place was on higher ground and pilings four feet above grade level. The house is better known today as the Jergens Mansion or Rinkard's Guest Home.

When Buchan's store split open, most of the groceries spilled into the flood. Bulk foods such as sugar, flour, grits and coffee beans were spoiled. Canned goods were washed ashore. Of course, the labels had all soaked off.

Nevertheless, folks picked up the cans and returned them to the store. They also helped Pete push his building back on its blocks. Thereafter, Pete offered the cans, with their unknown contents, for 10 cents each.

No one knew whether they were going to get spinach, beans, corn or what. They bought anyway because it was a bargain -- and maybe it would be peaches.

Later that year, Sarasota County was divided from Manasota County. A slate of officers -- with Pete recommended for the first commissioner representing Englewood -- was sent to Gov. Hardee. He approved it.

As commissioner, Pete worked tirelessly to get a good road into the area from Sarasota.

Jack Tate met Margaret Buchan that year when she and her parents visited their old hometown. Jack says, "She was 15 and I was 16. I asked her to go to the picture show with me, but she refused unless some one else went along. I suggested my sister, and Margaret said OK.

"Thereafter, I kept up a correspondence and went to Tampa whenever I could to see her."

No one had any money during the Depression. Stuart Anderson organized the Lemon Bay fishermen into a sort of cooperative. They iced their fish then hauled it north in their car, bartering for what ever they could until the fish were gone.

The operation grew, so Anderson rented the old Buchan store for an office and store room. He lived upstairs with his wife. Later he started the Lemon Bay Fisheries.

Jack Tate and Margaret were married in 1932. Mr. and Mrs. Buchan gave them a little house on Olive St. The following year, the Buchans moved back to Englewood where they could be near their daughter and supervise their properties.

The Tates and Buchans renovated the old Nichols/Buchan store building into a large home, and the Buchans moved back in. They also backed their son-in-law in building a new grocery next door.

Pete ran for commissioner and was easily elected. He served from 1933 to 1951 -- finally retiring at age 80. Among his accomplishments was construction of the Englewood Road, acquisition and filling of Blind Pass for a park, building of Orange Park and a county airstrip still bearing his name.

He managed his investments and dabbled in real estate until his death in 1968 just a couple of weeks before his 97th birthday. Mrs. Buchan died in 1971 at age 91.

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers

cutline -- dock

Photo courtesy of Charlotte Harbor Area Historical Society

The Royal Casino at end of Buchan dock was a popular "speakeasy" during Prohibition in the Roaring Twenties.