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.  

First Presbyterian Church of Punta Gorda -- 130 Years Young

The First Presbyterian Church of Punta Gorda now sits on Airport Road across from the current location of the Masonic Lodge of Punta Gorda.  Ironically, it was in the original masonic hall in downtown Punta Gorda that the church was organized on October 13, 1895.  This year the congregation will celebrate its 130th anniversary.  

Construction of the first church building began in December of 1900 on Harvey Street across from where the City Hall now stands on land purchased from Isaac Trabue.  It was dedicated on April 14, 1901 with Clarence H. Ferran as the first minister.  

For sixty years, the old wood-frame church building served the community, surviving at least two major hurricanes in 1921 and 1926, when almost all buildings in Punta Gorda sustained damage. Then on September 10, 1960 Hurricane Donna hurled into the city and ripped the steeple from the church and damaged the building beyond repair. A year later a new modern church was built at the same location on Harvey.  

Then on Sunday, August 7, 2005 long time members of the church took their seats in folded chairs in the parking lot of the 2nd church sanctuary of the church for the last time before that building was also demolished.  A year before on August 13, 2004, Hurricane Charley left the building in such a state, it couldn't be repaired to satisfy code requirements.

Over its history the congregation has included many prominent Punta Gordas including A.B. Tucker, Norma Pepper, H.W. Smith, Vasco and Lois Peeples, Vernon Peeples, John T. Rose, Dr. Robert Shedd, Frank Smoak Jr., Edwin Roundtree and Lindsey Williams among others.  

Updated March 28, 2025 by T. Murtha