Palmetto's Historic Downtown Walking Tour
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Description
Take a self-guided tour of Palmetto's Historic Downtown and learn about how Palmetto came to be.
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This tour was curated by: Palmetto Historical Park
Palmetto Historical Park offers visitors the opportunity to learn about the history of Palmetto, Florida through historic buildings & native gardens.
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1. Welcome to Historic Palmetto, Florida!
The City of Palmetto dates its beginnings to the arrival of Samuel Sparks Lamb in 1868. He was known as the “father of Palmetto” and gave the town its name, Palmetto, after his home state of South Carolina. As we walk along, we will learn more about the Lamb family, and other pioneers, some of whom arrived even earlier than he did.
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2. Site of Palmetto's First School
The NE Corner of Palmetto Historical Park is the site of Palmetto Academy, Palmetto's first public school. It was built in 1894 with money raised by a bond. It was said to be the first time in Florida that public funds were used to build a school. Children went to school from 8:30am to 4:00pm for 5 to 6 months of the year. By 1930, a new school building was constructed on the corner of 10th Ave. W. and 7th St. W. Later, Palmetto Academy was torn down.
3. 1914 Carnegie Library
Palmetto's Carnegie Library was one of the first libraries constructed in South Florida and was made possible by a matching grant of $10,000 from Andrew Carnegie. The City of Palmetto contributed $1,000 and the land, while local citizens under the leadership of the Ladies' Library Association provided all the books, library materials, and furnishings. The Carnegie Library was a functioning public library until 1969 when they built the library across the street. The Carnegie Library is now part of the Palmetto Historical Park and is home to the Alice V. Myers Archive Center.As of 3/1/2022 - Inside the Carnegie Library is a featured display on Andrew Carnegie and the Free Library Movement.
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4. Site of the Oaks Hotel
The Oaks Hotel was built here in 1909. It was incorporated by J.A. Lamb, A. M. Lamb (both sons of S.S. Lamb), D.I. Jones, and J.W. Jackson. The hotel was known for its excellent food. Rooms could be rented monthly or seasonally, with many residence making it their permanent winter residence. In 1909, the hotel owners dug the first sewer line in Palmetto. It went through the alley behind the hotel on the west side of Main Street. The City Council agrees to let the hotel have FREE city water for two years in exchange for the completion of this sewer line. The hotel burned in 1970 and the Oaks Apartments were built in its place. Over the years there have been several remodels of the apartments and are now called the Regatta Royale Apartments.
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5. Site of the Olympia Theatre & Palmetto Bakery
This building housed the Olympia Theater that opened in 1917 and was owned by Mr. Erwing W. Stoltz. Mr. Stoltz and his family lived above the lobby for a time and it later became his office. In 1923 the name changed to the Palmetto Theater. The theater remained in operation until the 1953.The lobby of the theater was shared with Earl Mason’s Bakery Shop, but the bakery was in a separate building behind the theater. For a time, this building also contained the Iverson & Lloyd Drug Store and the Lloyd family lived upstairs. It reopened for a short time in 2009 as the Olympia Children's Theatre until 2012, and is now privately owned by Alexander Berne (visual artist and jazz musician) and serves as his home and recording studio.
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6. Site of the First Methodist Episcopal Church
This parking lot once house the first church building for the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1890, the church exchanged lots with the Lamb family, and were provided a new lot at the intersection of Main Street (10th Ave.) and Myrtle (5th St). By Fall of 1892, the sanctuary was completed. The church met on this property until they relocated in 1923.In 1925, this lot became home to the second building of the Manatee County State Bank.
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7. Site of the Nettles Block
This parking lot once housed the Nettles Building. Built in 1907, the three story brick building was the center of the community. Over the years, the first and second floors housed a post office, hardware and drug stores, a telegraph office, a pharmacy, offices for doctors, lawyers and dentists, and for a time, a private school. The third floor was a meeting hall for the community groups such as the Masons, Odd Fellows, and Woodsmen of the World. Next to the building on the south side was an empty lot that served as a city park. There was a bandstand and many community events were held here as well as informal gatherings on Saturday evenings. Today it is a parking lot owned by the First Baptist church and they allow community use for the downtown Palmetto area.
8. Old Main Street Shops
When the railroad came to Palmetto in 1902, the center of activity for the town shifted from the waterfront closer to the railroad depot which was located on Main (10th Ave. W & 9th St. W) several blocks north of here. The railroad also allowed contractors to have a steady supply of bricks on hand, and buildings became more stable and less prone to fire hazards. Many new brick buildings were built in this vicinity to replace the wooden buildings near the water. Many businesses moved from the older wooden buildings on the waterfront to the new brick buildings here.
9. Site of the Open Air Post Office & Taylor the Tailor
This building once housed an open-air post office designed like the open-air post office still in operation in St. Petersburg, Florida today. William E. Burch was the postmaster in Palmetto from September 21, 1923 to December 31, 1935, and operated this post office location. Today it houses a medical supply company.On the back of this building along 4th Street (old E. Bay) was the location of the tailor shop operated by Thomas Taylor.
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10. Site of the first Manatee County State Bank
On this corner was once the first brick building in Palmetto. It was built in 1899 and was known as the Lamb Block. The building served as the location for the first bank organized in Manatee County, the Manatee County State Bank, which opened on July 15, 1899. It was incorporated with a capitalization of $16,000 and had grown to $50,000 by June of 1914. One hundred and sixty shares were issued at $160 a share. The Manatee County State Bank remained in this building until 1925 when it was relocated 2 blocks north to the stop we were at previously.
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11. Site of the 1921 Stoltz Apartments
Now known as the Crusader Building, this three-story building was once an apartment building owned by Erving W. Stolz. The name was later changed to the Palmetto Apartments. The building has undergone a renovation and is now an office complex. It was renamed the Crusader Building in honor of sailors who lived here while they trained on their boat, "The Crusader" for the America's Cup.
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12. Palmetto Wharf
The waterfront and the Manatee River has always played an important part in the history of Palmetto. To the pioneers, the river was like our interstate highways of today. Mail, supplies and newcomers arrived by boat and produce and citrus were shipped in that manner, as well. There have been four main docks in the history of Palmetto. A public dock was built here at the end of 10th Avenue (Main Street) in 1896. It was called the Palmetto Wharf.
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13. Site of Madam Joe Atzeroth's home and S.S. Lamb's home
Today, the home to the Regatta Pointe Condominiums, this was once the location of the Atzeroth family home. Madam Joe sold the house in 1866 to Sarah Campbell, sister to Joel Hendrix (Palmetto's first postmaster), and in 1868 resold the house to S.S. Lamb. The Lamb home was later used as a school for the Lamb children and their neighbors.
14. 1913 Sears and Roebuck Home
The 1913 Sears-Roebuck house was the home of Julius A. ("Dool") Lamb, the son of Palmetto founder Samuel Sparks Lamb. They Moved to Palmetto when Julius was 9 years old and in poor health. Julius grew up and became a local businessman. Julius owned Lamb & Willis Real Estate, Guarantee Abstract Company and was Vice-president of Manatee County State Bank, which his father helped to establish in 1899. He also established the first livery stable in Palmetto. This house was a Sears and Roebuck House, which was ordered from a catalog and came complete and ready to put together. The porches have been enclosed.This is now the Palmetto Riverside Bed & Breakfast.
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15. J.A. Lamb / J. P. Harllee House
This house was built for J.A. Lamb, son of S.S. Lamb, and his new bride Lillie A. Mason in 1899 and sold it in 1905 to S.N. Davis after determining it was too large for their small family. J. Pope Harllee, the son of Peter and Alice Harllee, purchased the home in the 1920s from Mr. Davis. This home remained in the Harllee family until 1991.This home is a private residence. The carriage house and pool house in the back yard are not original to the home.
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16. Site of the 1885 Howze Homestead
James A. Howze came to Manatee County in 1885 from Alabama. He was a Captain in the Confederate Army. He opened up a store west of S.S. Lamb's on the river. In August of 1888, a salesman from Tampa arrived on a steamer and went to call on Howze. The man was ill and Howze took him to his uncle, Dr. Alston's house, nearby to rest. That afternoon when the steamer made its return trip to Tampa, the man left on it and word came back shortly after that he had died of Yellow Fever. A few days later, Mrs. Howze (1st Wife) was afflicted with the symptoms of the disease. The Howze children soon came down with the fever. The children recovered, but Mrs. Howze died. She was the first victim of yellow fever. Prior to this time, there were only a few graves in the old cemetery on 5th Street and 14th Avenue. There was not even a road to the cemetery. When Mrs. Howze died, a path wide enough to carry a coffin was cut northward from 4th Street to the cemetery.
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17. Site of the 1900 Frankie Howze Home
After Captain James A. Howze’s death in 1897, Frankie Howze left the Howze homestead for Thomas and his family and moved with the younger children into a home built on this site. This house is shown on the 1917 Sanborn maps. The house has been torn down and replaced with this new, though older looking house. Many of the trees on the property are some of Mrs. Howze's plantings.To learn more about Mrs. Frankie Howze and her impact on Palmetto, please visit Palmetto Historical Park for a 2:00PM FREE guided tour Tues-Fri.
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18. Site of the 1924 First United Methodist Church
The First United Methodist Church was relocated to this location, the corner of Lay (4th St) and Lamb St. (11th Ave) in 1923. The land was donated by the Lamb family, as was the case with the previous location for the church. The previous property was sold to help finance the building of a new brick sanctuary to hold the growing congregation. In 1924, another new sanctuary was built at the new (and final) location.
19. Site of the 1891 First Baptist Church of Palmetto
The Palmetto Baptist Church was organized on January 5, 1892. A few months later, a wooden building was erected on this site where the new church is located today. The Rev. R.H. Whitehead, who spearheaded the church's establishment, became its first pastor. There were 22 charter members, 18 of whom transferred from the Benevolence Baptist Church, which was organized in 1868 and located, on Frog Creek several miles north of Ellenton. A brick church was begun on this site in 1923 and completed in 1926. This church building was torn down when the new church was built.
