Almost Lost - the Old Courthouse

 

From almost the beginning of the town in 1887, the citizens of Punta Gorda  sought  to be the center of their own county. When Charlotte County was finally created in 1921, the new government had no permanent home. For several years, county business was conducted in rented space including at the original Masonic Lodge where officials worked in temporary conditions while plans for a proper courthouse took shape. 

The courthouse would represent a physical manifestation of a long term goal.   By 1927, commissioners purchased  land on Taylor Street near Olympia from George Brown, a prominent African-American businessman of the time, and construction moved forward. Two rental properties were removed from the property to accommodate the the new courthouse.  (It has also been proported by some historians though not proven,  that the home of Marshall Bowman, who was assassinated in 1903 was once at that location.) 

Completed and dedicated in March 1928, the new courthouse building , designed  by the St. Petersburg architectural firm Leitner and Henson, followed the Classical Revival style—popular  for similar structures of that era, drawing on Greek and Roman traditions.   The courthouse included a jail reached from the court room via a hallway. 

As the county grew, the courthouse was expanded in the 1960s and again in the 1980s to accommodate increasing needs.  Unfortunately, much  of the classic look  of the building was hidden behind the mid-20th century additions.  By the late 1990s, the administration of the county was too large to be accomodated in  the old building, and county operations were moved to a new Justice Center in 1999. The historic building was left largely vacant, its future uncertain.

When the building was severely damaged during Hurricane Charley in 2004, consideration was given to tearing the structure down.   But Local preservationists, historians, and residents rallied to save it, arguing that the building represented not just architecture, but the story of Charlotte County.  Rather than tearing  it down, a movement took hold to restore it.  Money was raised and the building was restored to the original 1928 look  removing the additions of the 1960s and 80s.  It then reopened in 2008.  In addition to being home to the Supervisor of Elections office and election central for the county, the historic building remains a classic landmark connecting Punta Gorda to its past. 

T. Murtha Now and Then published originally in Charlotte Sun 

Before it became the Celtic Ray

 

According to newspaper articles of the day, the building  now home to the Celtic Ray was constructed  in 1924 by the Chadwick Brothers, fishermen from North Carolina who  became prominent Punta Gorda businessmen. Originally constructed as an office and storage facility, it had a gas station on its perimeter corner.  Earl Farr was an early tenant as was D. S. Smoak, who  became one of Punta Gorda's early mayors. The Texaco station serviced cars crossing the first bridge over the harbor ending at Nesbit. 

However, Kevin Doyle, owner of the Ray, says the building dates back even earlier -  to the 1890s. And there is evidence of wooden buildings along that area of Marion  Avenue that supports the existence of an earlier structure possibly one of the cigar factories that was here at that time.

Years later the building was converted to restaurant/bar space under various owners including for a time, according to locals, Mel Allard.  Through  the 1950s into the 1970s the place was known as the Trailer Bar serving the municipal trailer park located across the street. For a time it was also the Sandbar Sandwich Cove and prior to Kevin Doyle's venture, the Parrothead Cafe.

In 1996, Doyle  converted  the rundown establishment to an Irish pub, first occupying the one building that had been the Trailer Bar and filling station.  Then later, after hurricane Charley in 2004, Doyle purchased the entire structure and remodeled the larger building styling it like a Dublin pub with alcove. 

After some bumpy periods especially during the housing crisis when Doyle lost the place or awhile, the Ray was back and Doyle has been expanding ever since adding a new kitchen and large outdoor beer garden. More recently he has sealed over the open balcony space to create a full second floor for more restaurant seating and function rooms. 

Published originally in the Charlotte Sun as Now and Then column 

Punta Gorda Beach

 

It may come as a surprise to many that there was once a Punta Gorda Beach miles away from the city.   Punta  Gorda Beach, which had various names over its life, was originally created as Chadwick Beach named after its  developers.  The Chadwick Brothers operated a fish packing business in Punta Gorda until 1926 when they sold it to the West Coast Fish Company. After the sale, Clay and Steve Chadwick and their families moved from Punta Gorda to Lemon Bay where they began the development of Chadwick Beach on Manasota Key. They had their property platted and filed dedicating roads to the County. When lots did not sell well due to lack of  access to the island, the  brothers worked with T.C Crosland to have a bridge built. The Chadwicks also built a "pavilion" on the beach which offered groceries, gasoline, dressing rooms and showers.

It was then in the 1930s that a portion of Chadwick Beach was renamed Punta Gorda Beach. A man named Lou Woods had purchased the property to develop, failed and worked a deal with Charlotte County to help sell the land if it were renamed “Punta Gorda Beach.”  This enabled the county seat in Punta Gorda to advertise at the 1933 Chicago World Fair that it had a beach on the Gulf of Mexico. The fact that the city and beach were 27 miles apart was not mentioned. Many Punta Gorda families purchased cottages at the Beach - some still own them.  

The Chadwick’s original pavilion was later converted into a Casino. A large, open-sided second floor was a popular spot for Saturday night dances. In 1945,  the place was largely lost to a fire, and later from the remnants in 1958 a restaurant was built that had several names over the years  including the White Elephant.  Around the same time the area was renamed from Punta Gorda Beach to Englewood Beach.  

In 2001 Charlotte County built the public access facilities known today as Englewood Beach at Chadwick Park, honoring the Chadwick family's original development of the area. Today harkening back to an original name the restaurant is now the White Elephant Pub. 

Information on Punta Gorda Beach was from works of Josephine Cortes and Diane Harris, staff of the White Elephant pub and the research of Vernon Peeples at the Punta Gorda History Center.

Gilchrist Gift

100 years ago this week Albert Gilchrist’s gift of ice cream to Punta Gorda children on Halloween was announced to begin 5 months after his death.  The Masons would continue the tradition for 100 years despite the original fund running out during the depression.  The Masons chipped in to keep the tradition alive.  

Gilchrist who went on to become the only Florida Governor missed being  the town’s first mayor by two votes, possibly losing because he objected to the name change.   His gifts to the town went beyond ice cream, During his time in the town  he contributed land including important downtown corners to facilitate the building of stores and a hotel to spark the growth of the city,  He was so beloved  in the town that a half-day closure of businesses and government offices was declared so that people could attend his funeral.  He is buried in Punta Gorda at Indian Springs Cemetery. 

The Punta Gorda Mall

The green space off US 41 North between Marion Avenue and Retta Esplanade, was once the home of the Punta Gorda Shopping Mall.  After a fire destroyed the Hotel Charlotte Harbor in 1959,  the property was developed  for the Shopping Mall which opened in the mid-1960s. 

Later, in 1967, Al Johns and Bud Cole purchased the waterfront area at the end of the mall from the developer, Wilbur Marvin, to build a Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge.  The Springhill Suites and Four Points stand there today.  

During its life the mall housed the Harbor Cinema, McCrory’s, Publix, Eckert’s Drugs, Beall’s and other retail stores.  On the corner of Marion Avenue and 41 was a building originally a B&B market, then Earl Hadley’s Hardware store in the late 1950s, and for a time the home of Karl Elhmer’s German Restaurant.  Also near the mall along the Tamiami Trail over time there was a Royal Castle followed by a Chinese restaurant and a gas station. 

The mall by 2003 was aging, then the old shopping plaza and Karl Elhmer’s, after being badly damaged in Hurricane Charley in 2004, were demolished.  

Now this major section of Punta Gorda’s downtown,  once a bustling retail area occupied by the mall,  remains vacant. Today called City Marketplace, it is used for transient events and according to recent commercial real estate notices listed for sale.