May 16, 2004

Marketplace Opportunity to Capitalize on History

Punta Gorda’s venerable downtown area is getting a facelift that both and delight and worry residents.

As the county seat – twice judged by national magazines recently as the “Best Small Town in America” – folks there want to preserve its unique history while updating amenities.

Concerns are not necessarily conflicting. A new courthouse and its satellite law offices set the pace.

The old courthouse is being restored. It will be an important element in revitalizing the downtown area when it is put back into a new, important service.

However, its renovation has already been enhanced by the adjacent Time Management building. An upgrade of Herald Court, connecting walkways and a mid-town mini- park are on the drawing board.

Two new restaurants on Marion Avenue – replacing historic structures – have managed to blend in pleasingly.

The same cannot be said of the huge Marketplace project about to get underway where the Punta Gorda Mall and Hotel Punta Gorda used to be.

The site has been partially cleared, and construction of the Marion Ave. frontage is about to get underway. Condos come later.

Critics of the proposed, architectural style -- termed “Mediterranean” by the developer – is variously described by critics as “Nouveau Naples,” “Punta Naples,” “Naples Gorda,” and “Naples North.”

Certainly the helter-skelter development of Naples in recent years, with gaudy facades to compete for attention, has created an architectural freak show there.

Punta Gorda was founded in 1885 by Col. Isaac Trabue. It became the nation’s southernmost railroad terminal the following year when the Florida Southern Railway arrived and built a sumptuous resort hotel there.

Hotel Punta Gorda – and a couple of renovations -- dominated the downtown area until the four-story structure burned in 1959.

It was replaced with Publix supermarket, Eckerd drugs and a variety of smaller stores that now have moved farther south on Tamiami Trail.

Marketplace is an 800-pound gorilla that will be noticed in downtown Punta Gorda regardless of style. It is possible to command attention with a gracious old- Florida style that qualified the downtown and nearby residential area for local and National Register recognition.

Check out IMPAC’s world headquarters down the street.

Good Neighbor Ideas

Punta Gorda’s most historic attributes – in addition to its waterfront -- are the hotel and railroad. What a precious gift would be a recollection of the original hotel.

The railroad influence has already been preserved by the Punta Gorda Historical Society’s old depot.

Elsewhere on this page are views of the original Hotel Punta Gorda – named for the early Spanish fishermen’s landmark now Punta Gorda Isles – and of the re-styled structure by Barron Collier after he purchased it in 1925.

Either view would be preferable to the Marketplace style contemplated.

The hotel’s portico across the front would be distinctive and shade street-level stores and side-walk cafes from the all-day sun on that side of Marion Avenue.

And A Horse Trough

Don’t laugh.

When Florida Southern Railway steamed into uninhabited Punta Gorda in 1886 it brought 200 carpenters, carloads of rock fill, lumber and scores of horses to build a huge, resort hotel in six months.

To provide essential water for man and beast, the railroad drilled a well. Surprisingly it tapped into an artesian supply. The water was sulfurous and foul smelling -- but free-flowing.

Horses – then and later – didn’t care. Men learned that a pitcher of water tasted fine when left open for a few hours and had curative properties.

Watering troughs were as common, and necessary, in the olden days as gas stations are today. Troughs have disappeared. However, Punta Gorda's ancient thirst quencher still exists unobtrusively in the center of downtown at the northeast corner of Marion and Taylor streets.

Oldtimers still bring jugs to the "fountain of youth" for a supply of drinking water containing a score of minerals -- including twice as much radium as permitted in the public water supply. Indeed, devotees of the artesian water say it is the low level of radium that keeps them healthy and free of colds. They point out that massive doses of radium are used to counteract cancer.

Local health authorities shrug their shoulders. They disapprove of the water's availability but admit the health risk is minimal. They say that a person drinking three quarts of the water every day for a lifetime would have three chances in a million of developing a cancer they would not have had otherwise.

The watering trough was not disturbed when Taylor and Marion were first paved, with asphalt, in 1914. It was a necessity before horseless-carriages came on the scene.

The trough finally was removed when Taylor Street was widened in 1919. A bubbling drinking fountain for public use was constructed closer to the sidewalk.

The bubbler was bought and installed by Max Price, a nationally noted architect who had just retired to the town. Price soon was elected to council, mayor and first city manager.

He joined twin houses on Gilchrist Street with a “great room” for his cousin and converted the garage into a architect studio and work shop. The Historical Society is trying to raise funds to move these structures to the History Park before they are demolished for four new homes.

Threatened Again

The fountain was threatened again when Barron Collier bought Hotel Punta Gorda in 1925. He offered to pay for widening Marion and Taylor and install cast iron street lamps. The old artesian bubbler was deemed an eyesore so it was slated to be removed.

This upset those residents for whom the well was a convenient source of mineral water. They raised such a fuss, the city authorized a young policeman named Ira D. Atkinson to canvass citizens for funds to save the venerable facility.

An article by the Herald recalled that earlier drive in an interview of Atkinson:

"It was hard getting the water without getting all splashed up, so we got the idea of building the fountain. At that time, almost everybody came to get water from the artesian well.

“The city had a water plant, but it didn't work very well; and the water was salty. The only other water for drinking came from musty cisterns.

“I didn't have a whole lot of trouble collecting the $100 needed for creating the fountain which has flowed continuously and bountifully ever since."

Once more the fountain was moved back and decorated with glazed tiles. It included two steps so children could get a drink.

Old Well Saved

The Taylor Street well would have gone the way of all others in April 1971 if Atkinson -- then a 93-year- old retired sheriff deputy -- had not come forward a second time to save it from a street-widening program.

The city was putting down new sewer, water and drainage lines. To squeeze them in, the curbs would have to utilize more of the right-of-way.

Local folks again rallied to save the well. City Manager Robert Hollander and Public Works Director Vernon Crawford promised to save the fountain “even if we have to shave the well casing to bring the well below the construction.”

George Vickers, on-site engineer for the contractor, saved the fountain by taking off the "kiddie steps" and moving five palm trees to Gilchrist park in order to get the necessary six more inches for the widening.

Today, the mineral well still flows -- minus the steps children once climbed to sample smelly, foul- tasting water from a continuously flowing bubbler. A spigot was installed for convenience of “juggers.”

The stubby relic is an object of fascination for guests of historic tours when it is pointed out. The connection to a horse economy of the past becomes real and – well – fascinating.

If the city is smart, it will construct a real horse-trough at the capped well and let it run freely – a magic wishing receptacle whose coins would help fund a historic preservation fund.

Author: Lindsey Williams

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1 – 4 col. -- hotel with three columns

Photo courtesy Florida State Archives

The original 1886 Hotel Punta Gorda built by the Florida Southern Railway featured three towers. Ends of the building were bent back slightly to avoid a slab appearance. Note the portico across the entire frontage.

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2 – 4 col. --hotel view with palm on right

Photo courtesy Charlotte Harbor Area Historical Society

Barron Collier bought the hotel in 1925 and had his Uncle John Law Kerr, a noted architect, remodel it as Hotel Charlotte Harbor. He added a fourth floor for Collier’s private apartment and a fifth floor ballroom. All were topped with a “beacon for incoming airplanes.” He stuccoed the entire hotel. Portico pillars were extended to ground floor level. Hallways were narrowed to provide space for private baths at each room.

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3 – 2 col -- tower

Photo courtesy Florida State Archives

A close up of entrance to Hotel Charlotte Harbor illustrates the gracious effect of the two-story portico. Note Model-A Ford at end of entrance drive.

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4 – 2 col. man and woman

Photo from Charlotte Daily Herald

Mr. and Mrs. Ira D. Atkinson, of Punta Goprda, sample the city’s only public artesian well water following a drive in 1971 to save the historic fountain.

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6 col head and byline logo for fascinating past