Category: History

From lindseywilliams.org archive (with permission to reprint)

Young Lions of PGI Turn Sand Flat into Home Sites

By: Lindsey Williams (1920-2011)

The tragic deaths of Wilber H. “Bud” Cole, a founding partner of Punta Gorda Isles, Inc., and members of his immediate family, narrow the number of “young lions” who came to Punta Gorda after World War II to build a unique neighborhood laced with salt-water canals.

Cole, 63, was piloting his plane when it crashed July 31 at Great Abaco Island, Bahamas, while attempting to land during a thunderstorm. Killed with him were his wife Maureen, his son John, and the latter’s fiancé Loretta Bouman. Only the family’s pet dog survived.

Among those shocked by the accident is Alfred M. Johns, the other partner. Both men were native Floridians. The two had worked for the Central Intelligence Agency on Tachen Island off the China coast during the Korean War. Their mission was to divert Chinese from going to Korea to join the war against the Americans. Johns, chairman of the board; and Cole, president, launched the publicly owned Punta Gorda Isles Corporation in 1958. They brought in Bob Barbee, Sam Burchers, Tom Messina and others to form a dynamic group of salesmen and managers to turn a vast tidal flat into up-scale home sites.

On the company’s tenth anniversary, in 1968, Bud Cole wrote a short history of PGI titled “How It All Started.” One can not get closer to the facts:

For myself, Punta Gorda Isles is not a thing, but an experience — the bare beginning of which, I suppose, stretches back to a day in the summer of 1950. It was hot, and I was flying as a passenger in a “gooney bird” that was just setting down on a little island in sight of the China coast.

We taxied to a stop on the dirt runway, and I alighted to be greeted by a cloud of red dust. The center of this red tornado, it soon appeared, was occupied by an extremely disreputable jeep driven by an even more disreputable, mustached, native Chinese pirate.

I piled into the jeep and discovered on the ride to our quarters that under the layers of grime, behind the wild eyes, and past the inscrutable countenance, an ugly American was lurking. His name, it turned out, was Al Johns.

Al and I assisted the Government in various unlikely projects for three years or so before returning to the States. A few months after my arrival in the Far East, Sam Burchers (another ex-CIA agent) appeared on the scene, and the three of us became close friends. The mid-50’s found me, Al, and Bob Barbee, a schoolmate and friend of Al’s, in Fort Lauderdale learning to be “land development businessmen” from, perhaps, the most successful developer of prime waterfront property in the country — James Stone Hunt of Coral Ridge properties.

We experimented with this newly won knowledge on a small sub- division in Fort Lauderdale and then a larger one in North Miami Beach. By 1957, we were involved in waterfront development of 300 lots on Biscayne Bay in Coral Gables. Sam Burchers had come back from directing a motion picture in Mexico and joined us. We were four happy bachelors in the big city. At a conference with James Buchanan, then board chairman of General Development Corporation, the plans for Port Charlotte were unrolled. This was the first mention of the city of Punta Gorda. I had never heard of it, while Al risked the statement that it meant “something big” in Spanish.

What with big things brewing on the west coast of Florida, Bob and Al took a sight-seeing trip by plane and promptly fell in love with the Punta Gorda “point.”

The idea of the second largest harbor on the entire Gulf of Mexico, a county with more shore line than any other in the state, and a 100-square-mile public hunting preserve was awful strong medicine. The clincher was an unrivaled location — protected, secluded, and yet immediately available to the outside world.

Bud was dragged over by car and shown the view of the point from the bridge. He was told that “you can’t exactly get there from here; but it sure is pretty and we better buy it.” Bud and Sam agreed. With considerable help and understanding from the owners, Gerald Moody of Greenfuel Gas Company of Fort Myers; and George Sanders, owner of Edison Mall; title of the first 550 acres passed to Punta Gorda Isles, Inc., on the last day of the year 1957.

One local wag, when he heard that the mangrove swamp with its millions of fiddler crabs was to become a beautiful subdivision with canals throughout made a sage observation, “They must be out of their cotton-pickin’ heads.” Several others thought so as well. Fortunately W.T. Price, of Price Dredging Corporation and also president of Coconut Grove Bank, had faith that the young corporation could make the subdivision go. He backed up his belief with credit in the form of earth moving and road building.

At about this point, unmistakable Italian gentleman came chugging down the pike in a 1934 Plymouth automobile minus two hub caps, from the big, cold city, looking for sunshine and clean air. John Matarese had no previous experience in anything related to the land development business. He knew what he wanted and was not afraid of hard work.

He stated from the first day that he would have a house, boat and family in Punta Gorda Isles one day. Though it seemed unlikely at the time, John made it happen and contributed to the success of the venture in so doing. The first four homes were constructed on the west shore of what is the basin behind the office (now the Isles Yacht Club). These were Scholtz package homes. A temporary sales offices — which is now the maintenance building located on another site — served as company headquarters. In early ’58, an office had been built on U.S. 41 in Charlotte Harbor, on the north side of the bridge. Prospective buyers were taken by boat to view, from the water, the future Punta Gorda Isles. the building was soon sold, however, and is now occupied by the Sea Horse Marina.

The first three homes to be occupied in Punta Gorda Isles were the Wilder house adjacent to the tennis courts, the Ettenger home and the Cole residence on Donna Court.

About the time we started making the first sales, we needed some professional management for our finances and record keeping. Russ Faber, C.P,A., who was in business in Coral Gables, supplied this commodity. A couple of years later, Russ, tired of running back and forth, was induced to take up residence here permanently.

Meanwhile, back in the subdivision, a few more neighbors moved in — Sam, Bob and Al taking up residence in the model homes. The first Isles baby, John Cole, put in his appearance on Sept. 17, 1960. John was followed not long afterward by Kevin Johns, Sammy Burchers and others.

Sales were slow those first two years, but by the early 60’s the basic “pioneering” was over and the future course set.

The detailing of our basic group would not be complete without our attorneys, the Farrs — Drayton Farr, Jr., doing most of our work. Without him, certainly our company would have taken another form. His knowledge of the local conditions, attitudes, etc., as well as his legal counsel, contributed heavily to our success.

Don Witter’s interest and the backing of the First Federal made possible our minor housing boom when out-of-town financial institutions wrinkled their noses. As a matter of fact, the understanding of the local people, in public life and out, made the project possible.

When I think back on those early days, certain scenes seem to characterize the times. There was, of course, no B&B Shopping Center, much less the Punta Gorda Mall and the two motels. The old Charlotte Harbor Hotel, constructed in 1886, occupied most of what is now the Punta Gorda Mall Shopping Center. The hotel’s monstrous pool was located near the Howard Johnson site (built and owned by PGI). The hotel burned to the ground one night in 1959.

The Punta Gorda Federal Savings and Loan — now First Federal Savings and Loan — did business in one small office in the “Mall” in the King Building of East Marion Ave. (now the original Smith Arcade).

They had one safe, about the size of a file cabinet. The Post Office occupied the end of that “Mall.”

The First National Bank was located on the southwest corner of U.S. 41 and Marion Avenue. What little business activity there was resided on West Marion. A great number of the stores, however, were boarded up, had broken glass and cobwebs. There were but two restaurants in the area, neither of which had air-conditioning.

The hospital was a barracks building. The road to the Isles was unpaved. The Isles telephone had seven other parties on it.

Looking back, I get little snatches of memories of different people — Westy Westfall, with a prospective customer and a bit of sage advice for us, invariably sound. Rumsey Thompson paying all cash for a house and lot while wearing a pair of 69-cent Japanese sandals. Pete Bontsema, who single-handedly started the first Civic Association. Bill Crosland’s dog jumping into the Ettenger pool. Myself backing up and falling off the seawall while engaged in enthusiastically showing a customer the glories of PGI — Bob Barbee’s 22-pound snook.

The building of the Isles has been a stimulating experience shared by many; and, I truly believe, the best is yet to come.

Indeed, PGI continued to grow. Its twin, Burnt Store Isles, soon followed. Other subdivisions were Deep Creek and Burnt Store Marina.

Cole resigned as president of Punta Gorda Isles, Inc., in 1977 to pursue other business interests and manage his citrus farm and cattle ranch 10 miles east of Punta Gorda. He had been a pilot for 20 years, and had his own airstrip. He maintained a summer vacation home on Man O’War Cay, Bahamas, but flew home as necessary to attend First Federal directors’ meetings. Johns also gave up his chairmanship in 1987 to start his own development company. His present enterprises include the Seminole Lakes home and golf subdivision, Sand Hill Properties shopping centers, and citrus groves.

Johns and Cole managed to develop the Punta Gorda flats where others had failed. A notable attempt to build homes on a canal there was announced in late 1925 by the Ruff Realty Company of Tampa. The development was to be called Pasa Bonita. It featured a canal 300 feet wide and 20 feet deep running through the entire property. The project was a casualty of the Great Land Boom which collapsed in 1929.

Johns and Cole laid out 55 miles of canals 100 feet wide and 17 feet deep. Dredged sand was piled up on the flats to raise the level of land four feet. This provided dry home sites with access to the harbor and gulf. Home owners can keep their boats in their back yards. PGI lots originally sold for $5,000, and homes for $32,000. Earlier this year, an older waterfront home was sold for $495,000 and immediately demolished by the new owner so he could construct a $1.5 million home. Surely Bud Cole was pleased to see his prediction come true, “The best is yet to come.”

Author: Lindsey Williams

http://www.lindseywilliams.org/