Edited by Spessard Stone from The Tampa Morning Tribune of Tampa, Florida of January 10, 1909
Arcadia Board of Trade
The Arcadia Board of Trade was organized on May 15, 1905 for the purpose of doing things for Arcadia collectively that had not be done and could not be individually. The officers of the Board of Trade are J. L. Jones, President; J. J. Heard and E. Heard, Vice Presidents; Ed. Scott, Secretary and Treasurer; the board of governors comprising the above officials along with J. W. Burton and E. T. Smith.
Directory
Firms and others doing business in Arcadia [not cited elsewhere] are as follows: dry goods, S. Rosin, M. Kanner & Co., A. J. Dozier & Co., W. L. Carlton; grain and groceries, Dishong Brothers; general merchandise, W. H. Seward, Gore & Scott, M. A. Fairchild, P. C. Brown, F. Marquis; Furniture and hardware, L. L. Morgan; E. T. Smith, Arcadia Hardware Company; drug stores, Ed. Green, Jake Wey, Henry Cross, C. H. Smith; meat markets, Durrance & Co., W. F. Esplaub, Hendry & Hahn; restaurants and cold drinks, J. M. Lanier, Randall & Hodge, M. F. Bridges; Arcadia Bakery; bicycles and fruit stands, M. L. Bryan; jewelers, H. A. Iverson, S. F. Adams; wagon makers, L. L. Morgan, E. M. Barnett, J. H. Pendarvis; gunsmith, W. S. Davenport; barbershops, B. F. Wood, J. J. Mayes, L. Bryan; Attorneys, Treadwell & Treadwell, J. W. Burton, W. E. & G. Leitner, R. E. Brown; physicians, Ed. Green, C. H. Smith, K. H. Smith, R. L. Cline, D. L. Main; dentists, C. P. Baird, D. G. Barnett; civil engineers and surveyors, W. B. Clay, C. S. Nobles; Land and insurance agents, Walter Graham, S. J. Simmons, E. H. King, A. M. Smith, J. D. Jones, J. H. Peeples; commission merchants, N. A. Faulkner, W. E. Daniels. Also, there are several livery stables, one theater, one picture show, several contractors.
Cattle
DeSoto County claims more range cattle than any county in the whole south. Thousands of heads of cattle are pastured on the prairie lands with the owners having grown wealthy from this industry.
Fruit
Arcadia ships more citrus fruits than any other city in Florida. DeSoto County produces five percent of all the oranges shipped out of Florida, and ten percent of all the oranges shipped out of the state are shipped from Arcadia.
During the shipping season, Arcadia hotels are filled with buyers from all parts of the north and east. The shipments have increased from 164,518 boxes to an estimated 207,260 boxes in 1908. There are five large packing houses. Many fine nurseries are located at Arcadia from which the seedlings and budded stock is secured. These nurseries not only supply the local market, but make shipments to Cuba, as well as to all of the orange producing portions of Florida.
Banks
The First National Bank, established in 1900, has resources of $204,332.62, of which loans and discounts are $131,438.07; capital stock of $30,000 and surplus of $48,000. The officers are: T. B. King, president; Albert Carlton, vice president; J. G. King, cashier; W. M. Platt, assistant cashier. The directors are the preceding three men plus H. L. King, E. H. King, A. J. Carlton, J. H. Treadway, C. C. Chollar.
The DeSoto National Bank, organized in June 1907, has resources of $160,913.22, of which loans and discounts are $83,496.20; capital stock of $50,000 and surplus of $5,000. The officers are: W. G. Welles, president; John W. Whidden, vice president; B. F. Welles, cashier; L. A. Stroud, assistant cashier.
State Bank of Arcadia, also organized in June 1907, has resources of $119,870.75, of which $86,986.27 is in loans; capital stock is $50,000. The officers are: J. J. Heard, president; Eugene Holtsinger, vice president; David H. Scott, cashier. The directors are the preceding three men plus R. E. Brown, D. T. Carlton, E. F. Childers, J. C. Hickman, P. W. McAdow, J. Ed. Raulerson, A. B. Williford.
The South Florida Land and Trust Company, with its main offices in Arcadia, has a capital stock of $1,000,000. The officers of the company are: J. L. Heard, president; T. B. King, vice president; Ed. Scott, treasurer; Walter Graham, secretary.
Hotels
The large orange interest and cattle business of this section brings many strangers to Arcadia, but with the hotel accommodations at hand there is little trouble in taking care of them. There are five hotels in the city: the Arcadia house, Southern, Cottage, Floyd, and Central hotels, and numerous boarding houses.Hotel Arcadia, the principal hotel in Arcadia, was opened for business in 1888. Many notables from all parts of the United States and Europe have been its guests at various times and the deals that have been planned under its roof, having for their development of South Florida, would read like fairy tales if reduced to writing. The present owners and managers, Mr. and Mrs. A. Roe, purchased the property in 1904, and proceeded to remodel and refurnish throughout. The building is furnished with hot and cold water, lavatories and baths and has ample verandahs.
The DeSoto, a new thirty-room stone house has just been completed at a cost of over $27,000, but is not yet occupied.
Ice Plant
The Arcadia ice plant has a capacity of seven tons of ice for each twenty-four hours and has a capacity of 100,000 pounds of cold storage and can take care of 50,000 pounds of fresh pork at one time without any serious inconvenience. It not only furnishes all the ice consumed locally but ships large quantities to the various cities and towns nearby.
Railroads
Arcadia has two lines of railway. The Atlantic Coast Line railway has furnished shipping facilities since 1886, and within the last eighteen months the Charlotte Harbor and Northern railway has completed its line from Arcadia to Boca Grande.
Sheriff
The citizens of DeSoto County are a moral, upright people. A. C. Freeman, a native of Jasper County, Georgia, came to Punta Gorda in 1889. He was elected Sheriff of DeSoto County in 1904 and was re-elected for a second term in November 1908. The docket books for a year back, courtesy of Sheriff Freeman, show there were eighty-five arrests with forty-five convictions during the past year.
Florida Baptist Orphanage
The Florida Baptist Orphanage, opened February 1, 1904, is located one mile north of Arcadia. Besides the original large two-story brick structure costing $12,000, we have a new brick building, two-story, the upper the boys' dormitory and the lower the school room. This cost $5,228. The foundation for a sanitarium is laid and the brick for completing it is on the ground--all paid for.
The nature and purpose of the institution is to maintain, support and educate indigent white orphans of the state of Florida, irrespective of religious creed or nationality. All white destitute children of sound mind and body, between the ages of three and ten years, inclusive, may be eligible to admission, except that no child can be admitted whose father is living. We now have fifty-nine in the home. Twenty-eight have joined the church. The children are not being brought up in idleness, but are trained for life's work.
Conclusion
The man with small means, who is looking for a comfortable home in a country where something more than a mere living can be made, will find no country that offers greater inducements than the Peace River country.
No place can a man start will less and more quickly gain independence. Its soil, climate, healthfulness and natural advantages make it the finest and richest country on earth.
See also:
Arcadia Champion, Popular Paper
December 23, 2000, October 18, 2001, January 21, 2002, March 17, 2004