HISTORY OF PASCO COUNTYSan AntonioThis page was last revised on July 30, 2011. See also San Antonio schools and Pictures of San Antonio. 1883. A survey of San Antonio, dated Nov. 30, 1883, is here. Aug. 25, 1887. Apparently vol. 1, no. 1 of the San Antonio News was published on this date, with William B. Lynch, editor. The newspaper may have ceased publication in 1891. June 14, 1888. The San Antonio News states that it is published semi-monthly by Jno. J. O'Neill, editor, and P. E. Lyons, assistant editor. It has: Well this is the long looked for picnic day. ... This picnic is given by the San Antonio Literary society, an enterprising body of young men who about a year and a half ago, formed themselves into a society for their mutual benefit. It was intended to be a literary and dramatic club. Their first appearance before the public was their picnic on the 16th of June last year, a grand success which made a name for the society. It brought together the largest crowd that ever met in Pasco County. Then they started this newspaper which they still own. ... The newspaper also reported that the general business manager of the Benedictine Order in this country has been examining the San Antonio colony to determine whether to establish a college here. It reported that the Farmers' Alliance was organized at Clear Lake school house on the second of May. Advertisements appeared by: Jos. G. Kirchner, blacksmith; John S. Flanagan, justice of the peace and notary public, with land for sale; J. W. Fisher, M. D., physician and surgeon, with his office over the Dade City drug store and his residence at the Dade City hotel; Dr. J. W. Gatton of San Antonio; Dr. J. G. Wallace of Dade City; M. J. Dooner, merchant in San Antonio; Coleman, Ferguson & Co. of Dade City; T. Lucas and Co. of St. Thomas, with dry goods, groceries, boots, shoes, Queensware, harness and saddlery; J. C. Tremmell, engraver and repairer; Charles M. Gailmard, breeder of land and water fowls; William Sultenfuss, lumber yard proprietor; Brand and Wichers, date grove and nursery. 1889. A Frenchman in Florida quotes Judge Edmund F. Dunn (in translation): We have a judge who fulfills the duties of a notary public. His name is John S. Flanagan. Mr. Paul Gailmard, your compatriot, is a photographer. You saw his gallery. In the colony itself, medicine is practiced by Dr. Corrigan; in Ft. Dade, not far from here, there lives a physician-surgeon who can cut off your leg as easy as an alligator can. If you like, when passing through Ft. Dade, ask for Dr. A. S. Alexander—35 years in practice. This year, I have established a here a newspaper, The San Antonio Herald, appearing from time to time, which doesn't really make it less interesting as you can judge for yourself by the collection you see here. The subscription is five francs a year. The editor of the newspaper is G. M. Jordan. He is also the writer. We have two editors and two printers. Dunne also identified the presence in San Antonio of a civil engineer, a customs inspector, an architect, a glass worker, a superintendent of streets and roads, a carriage maker, an organist, countless carpenters, and a professor of Latin and Greek. June 4, 1889. Saint Leo College is granted a charter by the state of Florida. Oct. 18, 1890. A post office is established at Saint Leo. Feb. 24, 1891. Residents vote to incorporate Saint Leo. [Dr. Joseph Felix Corrigan (1846-1918), the attending physician of Saint Leo College, was elected the first mayor and his home served as the town hall. Others elected were: city clerk, E. G. Gailmard; marshal, Michael Forster; councilmen, J. S. Slevin, B. M. Wichers, N. P. Bishoff, Wm. Grus, and W. L. Mobley. Saint Leo was incorporated by an act of the legislature on June 2, 1891.] Aug. 7, 1891. Residents of San Antonio vote 28-8 in favor of incorporation, and chose these officials: Mayor, G. S. Bowen; Aldermen, F. J. Christ, F. J. O'Neill, J. W. Jackson, Bernard Kissen, Patrick McCabe; Clerk, Paul R. Gailward; Marshal, P. J. Lyons. [Information from a 1991 address by Dr. James J. Horgan published in the Pasco News and incorporation papers provided by Jeff Cannon. However, according to a web page San Antonio was incorporated in 1889. The Florida State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1886-87 has in the San Antonio listing: “This is an incorporated village.”] Feb. 7, 1895. A temperature of 16.8 degrees is recorded at Saint Leo. Nov. 4, 1897. The San Antonio Herald has these news items:
Nov. 18, 1897. The San Antonio Herald reports, “Current rumors have it that Mr. J. S. Flanagan intends to embark in the turpentine business and that he has secured all the available timber from here to Carml for this purpose.” Dec. 9, 1897. The San Antonio Herald reports, “The projected turpentine camp on the northest [sic] corner of the town limits will soon be a reality. Arrangements have been completed for the erection of a number of houses for the working force and as soon as they are built the hands will be brought here and active operations will commence. Mr. T. J. O'Neill has charge of the preparations and will most likely accept a position as overseer.” Dec. 23, 1897. The San Antonio Herald reports, “A name has been decided upon for the new turpentine camp and the settlement will henceforth be known as ‘New Klondike’ or Klondike for short. ’Possumtrot avenue is to be the principle thoroughfare.” Jan. 27, 1898. The San Antonio Herald reports, “In last Saturday’s municipal election the following gentlemen were chosen: P. J. Lyons, Mayor; G. S. Bowen and Wm. Schirmer, Councilmen; F. J. Christ, Clerk and Assessor; J. H. Bishoff, Collector; J. F. Frese, Treasurer; and H. Wegmann, Marshall.” Feb. 24, 1898. The San Antonio Herald reports, “Our county commissioner, Mr. A. Barthle of St. Joseph, is being complimented for the good judgment displayed in locating the new road to Dade City. It is a vast improvement over the old trails and when altogether finished, it will be one of the best roads in the county. Mar. 3, 1898. The San Antonio Herald reports, “Our popular Tax Assessor, Mr. J. S. Flanagan, has just completed his annual assessment trip over the county, and he reports that the number of people who promptly made their returns exceeds those of previous years.“ June 16, 1898. The San Antonio Herald reports, “An ordinance of the town council of St. Leo prohibits bathing in Clear Lake without a bathing suit. This ordinance will be strictly enforced in the future and bathers are warned to provide themselves with the necessary garments. Violators, when seen, will be fined to the full extent of the law.” Nov. 24, 1898. The San Antonio Herald reports, “The turpentine still of Crawford & Co. was sold last week to Messrs. Carmichael & Jones, who have already taken possession. The price paid for the property is said to be between six and eight thousand dollars.” Feb. 2, 1899. The San Antonio Herald reports, “At the municipal election lately held at St. Leo, the following gentlemen carried the day by a goodly majority: E. G. Gailmard, Mayor; R. F. Martin Bunning, F. Ed. Delabar, and J. E. Scott, Aldermen; F. A. Delabar, Clerk; and R. Stuntenbeck, Marshall.” July 13, 1899. The San Antonio Herald reports, “Mr. Sultenfuss’ saw mill is taken down and ready for shipment to Keystone Park, its destination. Mr. Sultenfuss will go along and superintend the setting of the mill.” July 27, 1899. The San Antonio Herald reports, “The saw mill of Brown & Wishart has been removed to the Big Cypress, where it will remain for the present. Messrs. F. J. Christ and E. Eisele went down to help in setting up the machinery. But little progress was made on account of the rain that flooded the whole place.” Aug. 24, 1899. The San Antonio Herald reports, “Some of our turpentine men are considering the introduction of an automobile for the heavy hauling, now performed by double teams of mules. The only drawbacks to the scheme are the rough roads, but the operators are willing to go halves with the county in fixing these to permit an easier mode of travel.” Sept. 7, 1899. The San Antonio Herald reports, “The unusual ringing of bells last Sunday morning at 3 a.m. was due to a revival, which had been in progress in the colored churches of the turpentine camp.” Feb. 8, 1900. The San Antonio Herald reports, “At the town election held recently in Saint Leo, Mr. R. Batchelor was elected mayor by a majority of six votes. Mr. R. Stuntebeck as marshall was re-elected, as was the Board of Aldermen with one or two exceptions.” July 30, 1900. W. R. Clark and R. D. Golding are drowned in Lake Pearce, near San Antonio. They were out fishing and their boat capsized. July 24, 1901. The New York Times reports: JACKSONVILLE, Fla., July 23.—News reaches here from San Antonio, Fla., of a terrific electric storm at that town. Services were in progress at the time in the Catholic Church. This church was struck by lightning and partly wrecked. Father Benedict, who was in the confessional at the time, was knocked unconscious. It was first believed that he was dead. Miss Gerner, who was kneeling near the entrance, and several others, were shocked severely. The building was set on fire, and the entire interior seemed to be in flames at once. There was a panic and a wild rush to get out of the church. Many were bruised during this scramble for safety. Father Benedict was unconscious for several minutes. He recovered and is reported to-day to be well almost. The interior of the church was damaged badly. July 31, 1902. A newspaper reports, “Ocala, Fla., July 30—An unknown negro was lynched at San Antonio, Pasco County, last night, for criminal assault on a white woman.” A newspaper story datelined Ocala, Fla., July 31, reports, “An unknown negro was lynched at San Antonio, Pasco county for criminal assault on a white woman. After being identified by his victim he was strung up on a tree in sight of the railroad station and his body riddled with bullets.” According to a web site, on Aug. 1, 1902, Alonzo Williams, a black man, was lynched at San Antonio. Pioneer Days spells the name Alonso Williams, and gives the date 1901. It quotes an unidentified newspaper article as saying that Williams choked into unconsciousness the niece of prominent resident Col. K. G. Liles and that “He was led forth to be dealt with summarily, but justly, and in a few moments the body of the beast was dangling from the Corrigan building and riddled with bullets, a fitting punishment that will always be dealt to such fiends so long as there is a spark of the fires of manhood in our breasts.” Nov. 2, 1903. The Waterloo Daily Courier Jacob Schaefer wrote, “San Antonio is a small town, 29 residences, 4 general stores, 2 meat markets, having meat only on Saturdays, which is made of native cattle here; one blacksmith shop, one small saw mill, one turpentine distillery, a depot, public school, also a parochial school, also a convent for Sisters, a church, city hall, etc. St. Leo college is one-half mile east of here, laying on a big hill near the lake of Jovita, a fine, clear, sweet water lake one mile square. On this lake you can get a good boat ride and fish. Negroes are not allowed here to settle, the few which are here working in the turpentine stills, and if the still is moved the negroes go with it.” Mar. 16, 1904. The Tampa Morning Tribune reports, “At the recent municipal election here, M. J. Dooner was elected Mayor, receiving 17 votes, over L. Halsema, who received 9. Other officials elected were: W. A. Semmes, Dr. McMullen, E. G. Liles, councilmen; B. V. Lyons, clerk; Frank Carroll, assessor; J. W. Higgins, collector; John F. Frese, treasurer; E. J. Scott, marshal.” Mar. 25, 1906. The cornerstone of the new Abbey is laid. (The building was completed in 1913.) Aug. 19, 1906. A turpentine man named John N. Burton kills Robert E. Wishart of Ocala, who operated a tie camp at Ehren. The shooting occurred at the office of a dentist named Nichols, located at San Antonio. Wishart was a patron; Burton intended to shoot the dentist but killed the wrong man. 1911. The three-story Holy Name Convent and Academy is moved by two oxen half a mile from the north end of the San Antonio Plaza to St. Leo. 1918-1919. The 1918-1919 Florida State Gazetteer and Business Directory shows the population of San Antonio is 350. It lists: J. A. Barthle, general store; F. Benjamin, general store; Adam Dick, black smith and grist mill; Lambert Halsema, grocer; Lemke & Carroll, general store; D. McLeod & Co., turpentine; Mary E. Nancock, postmaster; Wm. Pethe, shoemaker; St. Charles Hotel; Max Ulrich, blacksmith. The entry for St. Leo gives a population of 100 and lists: Charles H. Moore, pres. St. Leo College and postmaster; Abbey Printing Co.; J. F. Corrigan, physician; A. Delabar, express agent; Jesse Dunne, mayor; Hill Crest Grove Co., citrus fruit growers; P. Jerome, railroad agent; Charles H. More, pres. St. Leo College; Jack Osborn, truck grower; Benedict Roth, notary public; St. Leo College, Charles H. More, president; St. Leo College Orchestra and Band, M. Hartinger, director. Aug. 13, 1921. Newspapers report, “Mayor George J. Frese of [San Antonio] is out on bond pending trial on the charge of violating the liquor law. He was arrested by Sheriff Sturkie of Pasco county, who claims that Frese was operating a moonshine still on the second floor of his residence, on the most prominent corner in town.” Jan. 20, 1922. The Dade City Banner reports, “The final touches are being putto the electric line by H. E. Pfaff and his crew of able assistants this week, and San Antonio will in all probability have some street lights on Saturday night. While only a few of the homes and business buildings are wired at this time, the work is progressing right along, and before another issue of the Banner is published, the greater number of the people in this old and historical town will enjoy the comforts of an electric system.” July 18, 1924. Tommie Thompson is elected Mayor of St. Leo, replacing St. Leo Frater Thomas, who had resigned earlier. Feb. 5, 1926. The Dade City Banner reports that the Bel-Rich Hotel is now open, under the management of Walter Friebvel and George Ullrich. June 4, 1926. The Dade City Banner reports, “After an existence of many years the town of San Antonio passed peacefully away on Wednesday, to be succeeded by the municipality of Lake Jovita, the citizens of the place approving the change in a special election by a vote of 65 to 26.” Oct. 19, 1926. The Dade City Banner reports: “The last vestige of San Antonio, so far as Florida is concerned at least, will disappear on November 1, when the name of the postoffice of that thriving little village will be changed to Lake Jovita, to correspond with the new name authorized by an election held there last June.” Nov. 1926. the Florida House is dismantled. According to the Dade City Banner, it was a Florida landmark and one of the most famous buildings in Pasco County. June 1, 1928. The three-story science building of Saint Leo College is destroyed by fire.A Short History of the San Antonio AreaThe following article was written by William G. Dayton, and is reproduced on this web site with his permission. On February 15, 1882, two men walked up a pine covered hill in what was then the southern part of Hernando County. From the hilltop they looked down upon a large and exceptionally clear lake. Government surveyors in 1845 had missed the lake altogether and the area was virtually uninhabited so the men probably felt that they had discovered the lake. One of them drew a Latin prayer book from his pack and read that the day was the feast of St. Jovita. He accordingly named the lake in honor of that early Christian martyr. The two men proceeded around the lake to the hilltop where St. Leo Abbey now stands and one of them decided that he would reserve that land for himself. The travelers were Edmund F. Dunne, former chief justice of the Arizona territory, and his cousin, Captain Hugh Dunne. Judge Dunne was one of the attorneys involved in negotiating the Disston purchase of 1881, when Hamilton Disston of Philadelphia purchased four million acres of state owned land at twenty five cents an acre, thereby providing Florida with enough money to avoid default on the interest due on state bonds. Dunne took his attorney’s fee in the form of an option to develop a tract of one hundred thousand acres. Remembering the discrimination which Roman Catholics had experienced in Ireland and many parts of the United States in the nineteenth century and still smarting from the anti-Catholicism he had experienced in Arizona, Dunne envisioned the land as a "Catholic Colony", a settlement dominated by Roman Catholics, a center of Catholic civilization in Florida. Judge Dunne placed the center of his colony a short distance to the southwest of Lake Jovita. There he carefully planned a town, named "San Antonio" to honor St. Anthony of Padua in acknowledgment of an answered prayer. For the City of San Antonio he reserved a full section of land, plotted streets and residential lots and set aside property for schools, a monastery, a convent and an orphan’s asylum. In the middle of town he laid out a public square in the European style. 
Surrounding San Antonio, he planned a series of villages and
set aside portions of land to be kept in forest. Due north of San
Antonio would be the village of St. Joseph. To the northeast would be
San Felipe, and to the northwest, St. Thomas. South of San Antonio
would be Villa Maria and, farther south, the village of Carmel at the
end of a roadway lined with lime trees and castor bean trees, called
Palma Christi, grown from seeds which had been shipped to Dunne from
Egypt. Villa Maria and San Felipe disappeared in a couple of years but
the villages of St. Thomas and Carmel lasted until the turn of the
century, each with a post office and small church. St. Thomas also had
a Negro mission, connected with a nearby all black settlement called
"Possum Trot".
By 1883, the town of San Antonio was well established with several stores, a barn-like church with a resident priest (Father O'Boyle) and a school taught by Mrs. Cecelia Moore. In 1884, Dunne started publication of a newspaper, The San Antonio Herald. The early settlers of the colony included the McCabe, Gailmard, Hand, Carroll, Bischoff, Freese, O'Neal, Weaver, Liles, Quigley, Flannigan and Corrigan families. Most of the early settlers were of Irish decent, as was Judge Dunne himself, a papal knight and heir to ancient Irish titles of nobility. The colony’s medical doctor was Dr. Joseph Corrigan, a wealthy and well educated man, brother of Archbishop Michael Corrigan of New York. The doctor acquired a large tract along the east side of Lake Jovita and built a palatial three story home. The house, with its private chapel, burned in 1913 but some of the palm trees which lined roads on the Corrigan estate and on the Jovita golf course which occupied the property in the 1920’s and 30’s can still be seen. The colony’s Justice of the Peace, Judge John Flannigan, lived in town in an elegant Victorian structure (now the Arnade home) . Judge Dunne himself resided in a book-filled cabin on the hilltop where St. Leo Abbey now stands. His wife, Josephine, who played an important role in organization of the colony, died in 1883. Before the arrival of the Catholic Colony, the San Antonio area was largely uninhabited, save by the Osburn, Tucker, Wells, Kersey, Ryals and Wischers families. Before 1882, the Wischers were the only Catholics in Southern Hernando County. The small groups of protestant "crackers" in the area generally accepted the arrival of Catholic neighbors and even attended church with them on occasion. A French visitor to San Antonio in 1885 counted some sixty non-Catholics at the Easter Mass. Until the late 1880’s San Antonio, like the rest of Hernando County, was quite isolated. Long journeys by wagon or ox cart were required to reach the nearest port (Tampa) or railroad station (Wildwood) . After 1887, when the South Florida Railroad passed through Dade City, things changed rapidly. Pasco County was formed out of the southern end of Hernando. The Orange Belt Railroad was constructed, passing through San Antonio on its way to St. Petersburg. Crops could now be shipped quickly and efficiently to northern markets. Many new settlers arrived and, to accommodate the prosperity which followed the railroads, the Bank of Pasco County was established in Dade City in 1889. During this period the Order of St. Benedict began to make its mark on the developing community. Father Gerald Pilz, O. S. B., succeeded Father O'Boyle as parish priest and a group of Benedictine sisters arrived to manage St. Anthony’s School and found a private girl’s school at their convent, Holy Name, then located in the former Sultenfuss Hotel at the north end of the square. The building was moved in 1911, by an elaborate system of ox-powered pulleys and winches, to the hilltop where Holy Name Monastery now stands. In 1889, Judge Dunne conveyed his own lands to the order of St. Benedict and a small party of monks led by Father Charles Mohr, O. S. B., arrived to establish a monastery and Catholic school and to found the town of St. Leo. The monks added to the groves planted by Judge Dunne and built a large frame structure to contain monastery, school and church. In the early days, St. Leo provided instruction which would now be considered at both high school and junior college level and granted a degree called "Master of Accounts." It was a military school at first but the military aspects were slowly abandoned during the early part of the twentieth century. The monastery was elevated to an Abbey in 1902 and Father Charles became its first Abbot. In addition to providing priests for the churches of the Catholic Colony, the monks established Catholic parishes in Dade City, Zephyrhills, New Port Richey, Brooksville and Crystal River. St. Leo continued to supply priests for Catholic congregations throughout Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties until the last decade of the 20th Century. Beginning in 1883, the Barthle family led a number of Catholic immigrants from the German Empire into the area (by way of Minnesota) and founded St. Joseph, the last and only survivor of Dunne’s planned villages. A little board-and-batten church was built there in 1888 and dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The whole area was permanently affected by the steadily increasing number of German settlers. By 1896 San Antonio’s Newspaper was no longer The Herald but the Florida Staats Zeitung. Undaunted by the great freeze of 1895, which severely damaged the citrus industry and caused the demise of many Florida towns, German families experimented with a wide variety of crops and, for a time, made the Catholic Colony a center of the strawberry industry. San Antonio and the surrounding area maintained a distinctly Germanic character until the era of the First World War when Florida was convulsed with an unprecedented wave of Anti-German feeling combined with a strong Anti-Catholic movement led by the state’s governor, Sidney J. Catts. Governor Catts was widely quoted (and widely believed) to the effect that the "German" monks at St. Leo had an arsenal and were planning to arm Florida Negroes for an insurrection in favor of Kaiser Wilhelm II, after which the Pope would take over Florida and move the Vatican to San Antonio (and, of course, close all protestant churches) . A number of German settlers moved away to friendlier parts of the country. Others stayed and took the pressure. Abbot Charles of St. Leo published several dignified responses to the extravagant claims about Catholic "plots" and many local protestants made a point of appearing in public with their Catholic neighbors. When Catts visited the Pasco County area, he generally omitted the anti-Catholic portions of his speeches. During the first two decades of the century, the Benedictines constructed the first concrete block building in Pasco County. St. Leo Hall at St. Leo was begun in 1906 and completed at the end of World War I. St. Scholastica Hall at Holy Name was completed in 1912. The architect for these structures was Brother Anthony Poiger, O. S. B. He designed the buildings and, using a mailorder kit, worked out the process for making the "Palmer" blocks used in their construction. St. Scholastic Hall was pulled down in 1978, but St. Leo Hall still stands, a monument to the industry of Florida’s Benedictine pioneers. In 1926, during the Florida land boom, San Antonio was reorganized as the "City of Lake Jovita" and its boundaries extended a considerable distance. In an effort to "modernize," Judge Dunne’s street names were changed: Sacred Heart Street becoming Rhode Island Avenue, Pius IX Avenue becoming Curley Street, etc. The land boom ended abruptly in the same year, causing bank failures throughout the state. The Bank of Pasco County was the only local bank and one of the few in Florida to survive the "bust" of 1926 and the stock market crash which followed in 1929. When the Great Depression made it clear that the "boom" would not revive, the town changed its name back to San Antonio and withdrew the city limits to the section lines where Judge Dunne had put them in 1882 and where they largely remain. The secularized street names are about the only remnants of San Antonio’s "boom-time" modernism. In the 1920’s, the Jovita golf course, built on the former Corrigan property, attracted internationally known golfers, including Gene Sarazen. The golf course did not survive the Great Depression but has been rebuilt and expanded in the 1990’s with the development of the Lake Jovita Golf and Country Club. St. Leo functioned as a college preparatory school for boys into the 1960’s. Holy Name Academy functioned as a private girl’s school during the same period. By 1965 St. Leo and Holy Name had closed the secondary schools in order to make their facilities available for St. Leo Junior College, later a four year college and now a university with a graduate degree program. A community with deep roots in the past and strong agricultural ties, Judge Dunne’s Catholic Colony is now comprised of the Cities of San Antonio and St. Leo, the unincorporated village of St. Joseph and miles of orange trees and pasture lands. The central role played by the Catholic church in the life of the community and the deep commitment to agriculture by generations of residents are, like San Antonio’s town square, reminders of what Judge Dunne envisioned in 1882. Centennial of the Incorporation of San AntonioThe following is an address given by Dr. James J. Horgan on the occasion of the centennial of the incorporation of San Antonio. The address appeared in the Pasco News on Sept. 6, 1991. The text was copied, with permission, from this web site. What we are commemorating today is the centennial of the incorporation of the town of San Antonio. But the founding occurred ten years earlier. What happened 100 years ago August 7 was that the voters of this community went to the city hall and voted to incorporate formally as a town, and also had an election to choose a mayor and a board of aldermen for the first time. There were 36 people who voted in that election. The incorporation was not unanimous. They voted 28-8 in favor of it, and they chose G. S. Bowen as mayor and five aldermen, including Pat McCabe, the patriarch of the family that still continues with many members in San Antonio today. This, evidently, was the first election that was ever held here—because for its first ten years San Antonio was something of a monarchy. This was a very unusual community. It was settled in systematic fashion under the direction of Judge Edmund Dunne, who was a former federal judge from Arizona, who had a vision to found a colony for his fellow Catholics, as something of a cultural refuge. In the summer of 1881 he got an opportunity to do so through an unusual set of circumstances. The State of Florida was going bankrupt and, in order to raise funds, the State decided to sell much of its only asset, its public domain, its land. So the State of Florida sold 4,000,000 acres to an entrepreneur from Philadelphia named Hamilton Disston for $1,000,000—25 cents an acre. Judge Edmund Dunne handled the legal arrangements for that sale in the summer of 1881, the sale of what’s called the "Disston Purchase." As a result, Dunne was given by the Disston Company the control of eventually 100,000 acres of land. He didn't own it. But Judge Dunne had a right to control the disposition of this 100,000 acres of land that he selected from the Disston Purchase , and he used it to found what was formally called the "Catholic Colony of San Antonio." Let me read you a description of Dunne’s account that he gave to a newspaper reporter in 1885 of how he came to found the Catholic Colony of San Antonio and the circumstances of his arrival here. The colony was established in 1881; Dunne himself arrived on February 15, 1882. Here is Judge Edmund Dunne speaking to a newspaper reporter from the Baltimore Catholic Mirror in August of 1885: The great Disston purchase of 4,000,000 acres in Florida was made about June 1, 1881. I was selected by Mr. Disston as his attorney to go to Florida and to assist in the selection and to supervise the taking out of the title deeds. I obtained, as part of this arrangement, the right to have the first selection, out of the purchase, 50,000 acres of land for a Catholic colony, with the privilege that when I had sold a certain amount I should have the further privilege of taking another 50,000 acres for the same purpose. Dunne went on to describe how he came to choose this particular area, which was selected after many weeks of searching, and chosen for particular reasons. He contacted his cousin Captain Hugh Dunne, who had served in the Union army during the Civil War and was a resident of Atlanta, and who was familiar with Florida from a previous trip: I telegraphed him to come and help me select the site for our first settlement. He met me at Jacksonville and we examined the country together. After examining everything from Sumterville to Tuckertown, a distance of thirty miles from north to south and crossing the reservation repeatedly from ten to fifteen miles from east to west, we chose this place on Clear Lake as by all odds the place to start the settlement, with a view to health, and orange and grape culture. and he continues: The colony reservation is on a plateau of high land, considerable higher than the Fort Dade region. The selection was made after many weeks tramping on foot through the country, with the particular object of trying to find a high, dry country, free from malaria. The town of San Antonio is on the very apex of all the high land of that region. So he laid out his plan in the summer of 1881, and arrived here on February 15, 1882. That happened to be St. Jovita’s Day, and since Judge Dunne was a serious Catholic, that’s the reason why he changed the name of the lake from its traditional name Clear Lake to Lake Jovita—because he arrived here on St. Jovita’s February 15, 1882. He chose the name San Antonio for this community because St. Anthony of Padua is a saint Catholics often pray to when they have lost something. Judge Dunne himself, as he later said, had been lost in the desert some years earlier when he was prospecting for silver, and he prayed to Saint Anthony in the hope that he would find his way. And suddenly he noticed a camp fire off in the distance and thus was rescued. And so with his long-term plan to found a Catholic colony, this name "San Antonio" had been continuously in his mind. He began the actual settlement in the summer of 1882. As he was promoting the colony in Catholic newspapers, especially throughout the Northeast, he would send descriptions of life in San Antonio in the hope of attracting settlers. Here’s a description Dunne wrote of what life in San Antonio was like at its very beginning in the summer of 1882. It appeared in a letter he wrote to the Catholic Review of Brooklyn, New York in August of 1882: ...our colonists all came in the most trying season of the year, the beginning of summer, with no accommodations prepared, no conveniences attainable, no wells dug, nothing in general but lake and pond water to drink: sleeping on the ground with or without bedding: all very trying to health. So San Antonio in its first few months had 40 settlers. The peak of its population in this period of the 1880s was 400 people in 1885. Judge Dunne remarked at this time how, from his perspective, life had advanced in that three years from the very first settlement to the summer of 1885 when, by his standards, things were flourishing. He told this to a newspaper reporter: ...there are about three hundred people in the colony, with a Catholic church built, free of debt, a resident Catholic priest, a parochial school, a post-office, three stores and a number of residences. Also another town is established three and a half miles northwest of San Antonio, named St. Thomas with a post-office. Dunne envisioned that San Antonio proper would be the hub surrounded by a ring of satellite communities. Carmel was laid out about five miles to the south. Villa Maria was planned for one mile to the south. Saint Thomas would be some five miles to the northwest, and St. Philip five miles to the northeast. And as part of his regulations in those years, all the settlers had to be Catholic, and not only that, they had to have a letter from a priest certifying that they were in good standing. In his sales of land through the Disston Company, Dunne could control who the settlers would be. Land was very cheap: $1.25 an acre to as much as $5 or $10 an acre, depending on its location. In his effort to attract people he wrote these accounts of colony life throughout that time. In fact, this town is noted for still having descendants from some of those early settlers, who called themselves "colonists." Madaline Beaumont’s parents, for example—Mary Hand and Louis Govreau—read Judge Dunne’s letters while living in Missouri in the mid 1880s and moved down here to this Catholic Colony of San Antonio because they found appealing the descriptions that he gave. The Catholics-only regulation was something of a controversy and only lasted about six years. Here’s a commentary from a visitor from Pittsburgh, who came through here in the summer of 1884 and was very impressed with Judge Dunne, but who disagreed with Dunne’s idea that the settlement should be for Catholics only. This was an interview he gave to the newspaper the Pittsburgh Leader in June of 1884. His name was W. B. McCaffrey: San Antonio is the town of Judge Dunne’s colony, situated on a beautiful lake in Hernando county. You will not find the name on the maps, as yet, but it is located near Fort Dade. The colony is in a flourishing condition and numbers at present 256 souls. So, one major issue of colony life at that time was the homogeneity of Catholicism, which was the vision that Dunne had and the reason San Antonio was founded. Another major issue of the 1880s was the conflict between the Irish Catholics and the German Catholics. There were about 400 people here at its peak of settlement in the mid-1880s, and about half of them were German, a little less than half were Irish, and then there were some French Catholics as well. The Germans were unhappy with the Irish priest, John O'Boyle. They wanted a German-speaking priest to present religious services in their own language. So Judge Dunne, of Irish background himself, in order to appeal to the interest of his people, arranged to have a German-speaking priest sent here to provide bilingual services. Such a priest arrived—a man named Gerard Pilz—in May of 1886. This is how the Benedictines happened to come to Florida, how Holy Name Priory come to be established, and how Saint Leo Abbey and Saint Leo college come to be founded; because of the conflict between the German and the Irish Catholics in the Catholic Colony in the summer of 1886. Gerard Pilz was a Benedictine priest from St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pa., and his arrival settled this conflict between the English-speakers and the German-speakers because he was able to present services in both languages. Dunne himself is to me a very interesting man. He was imperious in many ways, but he was a visionary. He had a lot of conflicts., toward the end, with his colonists, but he was well respected throughout the early years of San Antonio. Madaline Beaumont told me that when she was growing up in San Antonio, Judge Dunne’s name was regarded heroically. Dunne himself left here in 1890 in the midst of a number of troubles, largely because he had overextended himself financially. So Judge Dunne was not here when the municipality incorporated, the centennial of which we are commemorating today. Finally, let me read you a description of San Antonio on the eve of the incorporation whose centennial we are now commemorating. This is an account from the Tampa Journal, a newspaper which ran a series of profiles about the towns along the Orange Belt Railway. The article is from November of 1889, and it describes the very place where we are standing now: The streets are all broad at least 80 feet, and there are plazas and plazas. The convent —which used to be located just to the north of the park— which is a handsome building, is in a large lot, while before it is a four acre baseball ground, said to be the largest in the country. That’s where we're standing now: a four-acre baseball ground in 1889. It is perfectly flat and almost as smooth as a floor. The church and parsonage stand in another four acre lot, planted with orange trees. Indeed the center of the town is one immense court. And finally the report concludes: Although a Catholic community there are many Protestant settlers, and everything moves on harmoniously. I suppose that might be a theme we could pick up on for our commemoration today—that life is San Antonio, from its beginnings, has been reasonable harmonious. And I might say also, has been reasonable harmonious. And I might say also, it seems to me that this community in the past century has changed little. At its peak in population in the "colonial" period, there were 400 people who lived here. There are only a few hundred more today. What we are really remembering is this distinctive feature of our community: the close knit sense of harmony that many people feel. And in our centennial commemoration, that is a persistent value we can keep in mind. This was the centennial address Dr. Horgan presented in the San Antonio city park on August 11. He has done extensive research on the history of San Antonio and Saint Leo and is the author of "Pioneer College: The Centennial History of Saint Leo College, Saint Leo Abbey, and Holy Name Priory." The book is available for $24.95 from the Saint Leo College Press, P.O. Box 2247, Saint Leo. Fl. 33574 also at the Saint Leo College Bookstore.
Golf Courses Part Of History (2001)This article appeared in the Tampa Tribune on Oct. 2, 2001. By CAROL JEFFARES HEDMAN ST. LEO - Since opening two years ago this month, Lake Jovita Golf & Country Club has garnered praise from golfers, as well as from sightseers motoring past the lush manicured greens and flourishing flora along State Road 52. The course was designed by architect Kurt Sandness and PGA Tour player Tom Lehamn, past winner of the British Open. But the two can't take all the credit for the natural rolling terrain that first drew golfers to east Pasco County in the early days. The original course, also named Lake Jovita, was built in the 1920s during the real estate boom years in Pasco County and was considered one of the best in Florida by golfing great Gene Sarazan, who lived part time in New Port Richey. Lake Jovita Club was developed by W. E. Currie, who bought the 600 acres wrapped around Lake Jovita in the mid- 1920s from the heirs of doctor Joseph Corrigan, who arrived in the area in 1884. Currie also was influential in getting the name of nearby San Antonio changed to the City of Lake Jovita after it was confused with the Texas town. Because St. Leo had only a mail depot, Currie had goods for the project shipped to the train depot at San Antonio. But a lot of the materials mistakenly were sent to Texas. Longtime San Antonio resident Joe Herrmann, who worked at the golf course as a young teen, recalled the time Currie needed concrete blocks for a building at the course. None were available locally, but Herrmann’s father, Lucius, found some in Tampa. Currie ordered and paid for two carloads of concrete blocks to be shipped by rail the 25 miles to the San Antonio Depot. Three months later, the blocks were found in San Antonio, Texas. Currie pleaded his name-change case, along with a real estate broker who thought City of Lake Jovita was a more appealing name for recruiting newcomers. A referendum resulted in the name being changed in 1926. Currie also planned a housing development along with his golf course. But like many in those days, his plans never developed when the Florida boom collapsed, resulting in bank failures in 1926. The permanent clubhouse never got built but the temporary one sufficed, providing a dining facility, showers and a “lying room” or lounge. The 18-hole course had fences and cattle caps to keep free-range cows and hogs off the fairways and greens. Lake Jovita Club’s prosperity helped local teens Leo DeRosier, A. O. Kiefer and Herrmann earn money as caddies. Herrmann carried bags from morning to night 365 days a year to make enough money to support 10 people during those tough years, he recalled. Herrmann’s father had lost all his money when the Bank of Dade City folded in 1926. For the next four years, Joe, eldest of the eight children, worked at the golf course, plus delivered three newspaper routes and attended school. Course Folds, San Antonio Returns But with the Great Depression, only the wealthy could play golf, and Currie’s course eventually closed in the early 1930s. And the city of Lake Jovita returned to its original name in 1931. The golf course property eventually was purchased by William Lee, who turned it into citrus groves. Prominent grower John S. Burks later purchased the property. His heirs eventually sold it to developers Lake Jovita Associates to be returned to a golf course once again called Lake Jovita. The course opened for play on Oct. 19, 1999. While the course was being developed, the old water tower that once was used for irrigation at the original course and an old hand pump were refurbished and remain near the 11th tee. Other reminders of those days tower over golfers. A colonnade of palms marks the location of the three-story mansion Corrigan had built on 40 acres of lakefront property he bought for $4,000. The home, which had a private chapel, burned in 1913. The land was part of the Disston purchase of 1881 when that $1 million purchase of 4 million acres saved the State of Florida from bankruptcy. Judge Edmund Dunn, former chief justice of Arizona, had negotiated the deal for Hamilton Disston. In return, Dunne obtained development rights on 50,000 acres as part of his fee. Dunne’s Catholic Colony Land Co. sold the land in the 1880s. Corrigan bought his first parcel and settled there. Corrigan, whose brother was archbishop of New York, was the attending physician at Saint Leo College from 1890 to 1920, served as the first mayor of the Town of St. Leo when it was incorporated in 1891, and was the closest friend to Abbot Charles Mohr, the first abbot of Saint Leo Abbey. Corrigan sold Mohr 40 acres in 1892 for $2,500 to be used as a pasture for Rosie, a cow that had been traded in lieu of college tuition for one student. Four years later, Corrigan provided an abutting 20-acre muck tract for $500 and donated a third of an acre triangular piece of land between the college and the lake that became the site of the monastery cemetery in 1901. Corrigan also contributed a 30-foot-wide strip of pine trees for firewood in 1896, the parcel running east through the 40 acres behind his homestead, according to information researched by James Horgan for his book Pioneer College. The plantation came into question when Corrigan died in 1919. His heirs sold the property adjoining the college to the north and east to Currie. In 1987, nearly a century after Corrigan joined the founding staff of Saint Leo College, the school - now a university - initiated the purchase of his 100-acre homestead from the Burks estate. The Pasco County Historical Preservation Committee plans to erect a marker at Lake Jovita Golf Club, designating it as a historic site. This Course Went Bust For Good Another area golf course was also lost to the collapse of the Florida real estate boom. Only the clubhouse was completed for the Dade City Highlands Golf and Country Club. Located on a hill off St. Joe Road, west of Dade City, the developers spared no expense in furnishing the clubhouse, but the wicker furnishings were repossessed a short time later. A subdivision just east of the golf course was also proposed. The plat for Golf Course Estates was filed May 6, 1925 with the Pasco County Clerk’s Office and included 3 1/2 acres. But that project collapsed with the Florida land boom. The city acquired the land for back taxes and for years it was left vacant, with only the red brick streets remaining. In the 1950s the subdivision was developed as Golf Course Estates. But most folks call it “Tank Hill” because of the city water tank that overlooked it. A second subdivision was also platted around Highlands Golf and Country Club. Called Golf Terrace, the development was platted Aug. 8, 1925 and fronted St. Joe Road. Golf Terrace never got as far as having its roads constructed. For years the only course in the area was adjacent to the current Lake Jovita course. Built in 1963 by Saint Leo Abbey, the course is still a picturesque asset to the countryside. It has had a number of owners throughout the years but has been owned by Saint Leo University for two years and is called the Abbey Course at Saint Leo University.
Community Has Roots In City Park (2001)This article appeared in the Tampa Tribune on Oct. 16, 2001. By CAROL JEFFARES HEDMAN SAN ANTONIO – Thousands are expected to once again invade this otherwise tranquil town this weekend, just as they have for the past 35 years when San Antonio plays host to the annual Rattlesnake Festival. Most festival activities will take place Saturday and Sunday in the heart of San Antonio. But most enjoying the festival’s folksy atmosphere don't realize they are standing on an important link in the history of the town known for years as the Catholic Colony of San Antonio. Through the years the four-acre plot now just called City Park has had the names of Plaza Almeda, St. Louis Plaza, Pio Nono Park, and simply The Plaza. The Choicest Land Judge Edmund F. Dunne founded San Antonio on the land he deemed the choicest in Florida. Dunne, a former chief justice of Arizona who was forced to resign after his vocal defense of the Catholic school system, was retained by Philadelphia entrepreneur Hamilton Disston to negotiate his purchase of 4 million acres of land in Florida. The state of Florida was offering the sale of land to save it from bankruptcy. Disston pledged to buy the 4 million acres for $1 million or 25 cents an acre. For his efforts, Dunne was paid with his choice of 100,000 acres of land where he planned to establish his Catholic colony of San Antonio. Traveling on horseback with his cousin, the twosome sought out the best land in the state. They found it Feb. 15, 1882. on a hilltop overlooking a bountiful lake. Arriving on St. Jovita Day, Dunne gave the saint’s name to the lake that had been traditionally called Clear Lake. Dunne platted his town of San Antonio on the apex of all the high land in the rolling hills. He had chosen the name San Antonio years earlier after praying to St. Anthony while lost in an Arizona desert while prospecting for silver. After praying to the saint whom Catholics believe helps recover lost things, Dunne saw a bright light in the distance that directed his course. Dunne named his Catholic colony in gratitude to St. Anthony of Padua. Dunne’s 100,000 acres once sprawled from the Fort Dade region, near today’s Dade City, to Hammock Creek Land on the Gulf of Mexico in Hernando County. His vision for the colony included the surrounding satellite communities of Carmel, Villa Maria, St. Thomas, and St. Philip, also called San Felipe, with San Antonio as the central hub. San Felipe was five miles north of San Antonio and named for St. Phil Neri on whose feast day the settlement was located. Carmel, five miles south of the principle city, was named from the Hebrew word for “a finely cultivated field or orchard.” Villa Maria, named for the Blessed Virgin, was located a mile south of San Antonio on the road to Carmel. These were the first three, established by 1883. By 1885 St. Thomas was established some three miles northwest and even had its own post office. San Antonio proper was to include a hospital, an orphanage, an asylum, a convent, and a European-style plaza. The grandest design for the center of the town was Pio Nono Park, named for Pope Pius IX who had reviewed and given his blessing to Dunne’s colonial plan in 1872. In a rendition dated June 13, 1893, Dunne plan showed a central plaza that was to be surrounded by paths and gardens, with strategically placed statues that would extend eastward from the town square to the city limits. The Grand Plan The grand plan was never implemented and through the years the site went through a number of developments. On Dec. 13, 1888, Thomas and Lucy Quigley executed a warranty deed to the Rev. Gerard Pilz, Order of St. Benedict, on behalf of the colony. Pilz was the first Benedictine pastor of St. Anthony Church that had been constructed adjacent to the plaza land in 1911. The deed had a number of stipulations mandating that certain expenditures be made for improvements to the park. The title was passed along to monks at Saint Leo Abbey who, in 1925, unanimously decided to give the San Antonio Corp. a trust deed only for the Plaza in San Antonio. Again there were stipulations, with the monks saying nothing detrimental to the Catholic church nor any “nuisances” be allowed on the grounds. The pastor of St. Anthony’s Church would be the sole arbiter as to these points. The stipulations were removed in 1967 when the late Abbot Marion Bowman, abbot of St. Leo Abbey, signed a quitclaim deed in favor of the city of San Antonio, relinquishing any claims to the park and making no reference to conditions. City Park remains today as a center for family activities by members of the town. With a playground, baseball field, and basketball courts, the park also served the adjacent St. Anthony School. The school originated in 1883, shortly after San Antonio was founded. With 14 students, classes were taught at the home of its teacher, Marie Morse. The school was moved to the church in 1884 and in the fall a separate frame schoolhouse was erected next to the church. The current St. Anthony School was built in 1922.
Sisters Serve Up Tradition (2002)This article appeared in the Tampa Tribune on Nov. 22, 2002. By CAROL JEFFARES HEDMAN SAN ANTONIO - The Benedictine Sisters at Holy Name Monastery again will feed Thanksgiving dinner Thursday to those in need and alone. The sisters’ commitment “to respond with the compassion of Christ to physical, emotional and spiritual hungers” prompted their first Thanksgiving dinner seven years ago. That same commitment first brought five sisters from Pennsylvania here 113 years ago to found what initially was called Holy Name Priory. The Benedictine sisters came at the request of townsfolk in the Catholic colony of San Antonio, established in 1882 as the realization of Judge Edmund F. Dunne’s dream. Soon after Dunne founded San Antonio, he asked priests, monks and nuns to come provide religious services and education for the colonists. But it took four years before Bishop John Moore of St. Augustine recruited a bilingual priest, Gerard Pilz, to come provide Catholic services to the 400 colonists, more than half of whom spoke German. Pilz, the first Benedictine in Florida, was responsible for elementary schools in San Antonio and nearby St. Joseph that had been staffed by lay teachers. In December 1888, the priest wrote to the head of St. Joseph’s Convent in Allegheny, Pa., near his home territory, asking her to take charge of his schools. At Pilz’s invitation, five Benedictine nuns set out from Allegheny on Feb. 24, 1889. Sister Agnes Behe was delayed en route. Mother Dolorosa Scanlan and Sisters Boniface Feldmann, Josephine Feldung and Agatha Giesler arrived four days later, probably on the Orange Belt Railway. Behe joined them June 24. On March 1, 1889, the sisters founded Holy Name Priory. The Hotel That Never Was A Hotel Dunne already had set aside land for a convent. Instead, the sisters got a nearly ready building in San Antonio that was constructed as a three-story hotel by William Sultenfuss. The large hotel, built in 1887, was north of what was called San Antonio Plaza, now known simply as City Park. The structure was never used for a hotel because colonists were afraid it would draw undesirable types to town. Instead, Sultenfuss sold the building in 1888 to the bishop, even before the nuns arrived, to be used as a convent. In September 1889, the sisters at Holy Name Priory started teaching at St. Anthony and St. Joseph elementary schools. At the convent, the sisters began conducting classes for Holy Name Academy’s 40 students, both boys and girls at first, some as old as 20. Among the early students was Mary Ansley, future grandmother of U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, who noted the fact in his 1985 commencement address at Saint Leo College. Saint Leo College officially was founded, with Saint Leo Abbey, on June 4, 1889 when Gov. Francis P. Fleming signed into law an act passed by the Legislature incorporating the Order of St. Benedict of Florida with the objective of educating youths, establishing churches and conducting services. As Saint Leo Abbey and Saint Leo College grew, Holy Name Priory outgrew its location on the 10-acre plot at the plaza. But the sisters couldn't afford to build a new convent on land Moore secured in a controversial deal in 1887. The bishop bought 40 acres from John Flanagan, an aggressive real estate entrepreneur in San Antonio. Flanagan found out that land Benedict Wichers thought he had homestead rights to before Dunne’s arrival actually was owned by the railroad. Flanagan bought 120 acres of Wichers’ squatter land from the railroad in 1887 and sold the 40 acres to the bishop. Moving Entire Buildings In the summer of 1911, the convent-academy building was hauled from its original location a half-mile to the parcel where Holy Name Monastery still stands on State Road 52. The move was said to be impossible. But Mother Superior, Rose Marie Easly, while small in stature, was big in determination, evident by the fact she was the first woman in Pasco to hold a driver’s license. Easly hired W.H. Reed, a Baptist preacher from Tampa, to move the three-story building that measured 140 feet long and 75 feet wide. San Antonio’s city fathers weren't pleased about the move and the town council refused to approve the petition Reed sought. Councilman W.A. Semmes was authorized at a morning meeting on June 30, 1911, to go to Dade City and hire an attorney to get an injunction restricting cutting of trees on the streets and plaza necessary for the move, as well as prohibiting the move. But at a special meeting that night, the council reconsidered and voted to allow Reed to cut two oak trees and move across the streets. Before he started, Reed raised the building, putting planks on the ground and on the floor joist underneath and then rollers between them. The move began July 5, 1911 and the community turned out to watch the daily efforts that involved two oxen and a half-dozen men. The half-mile move took six weeks as a winch, anchored to a dead-man timber, was buried deep in the ground to pull the building along. A steel cable stretched around the whole girth of the convent and was anchored some 50 feet ahead of the building. The ox had been trained to walk around and around the winch, stepping over the cable a foot off the ground each time. The building slowly inched forward on the planks and rollers. The workers would pull the planks and rollers from the rear of the building, setting them down again in front as it advanced. When the building had traveled the 50 feet to the winch, the oxen were unhitched. The dead-man timber was moved another 50 feet and reburied to anchor it. The team was hitched up again and the whole procedure was repeated. Barely one setting a day could be completed. The sisters’ windmill and water tower were moved the same way, both in upright positions. Perpetual Gift The religious community had nine sisters and 13 boarding students at Holy Name Academy during the summer. Most continued to sleep at the building during the move, but academy classes were held at St. Anthony’s School. In fall 1911, Easly sent two sisters north to beg members of the religious order there for the $4,500 to pay for the move. On Sept. 10, 1911, Charles Mohr, the first abbot of Saint Leo Abbey, provided the sisters with a perpetual gift of a priest to say daily Mass at the convent, which was a short walk from Saint Leo Abbey. The current convent building was constructed in 1960. And the sisters continued to operate Holy Name Academy until it closed in 1964. Briefly coeducational when it was launched in 1889, the school later proclaimed that its mission was to “impart to young ladies a thorough moral and mental training, so as to fit them for the position they may occupy in afterlife.” The curriculum included English language, Christian doctrine, history, geography, mathematics, bookkeeping, penmanship, German, French, vocal and instrumental music, plain sewing and embroidery. Holy Name Priory also operated St. Benedict’s Preparatory School for Boys from 1929-50. In recent years, Holy Name Priory changed its named to Holy Name Monastery. There are 28 sisters, ages 36 to 92. Ramblin’ ’Round TownHere are several columns believed to have been written by Joe Herrmann which appeared in the Dade City Banner. RAMBLIN' 'ROUND TOWN San Antonio, November 7, 1935. -- On Wednesday night of last week the ghosts were out at the Flannigan home. Everybody who is anybody was there and talk about a good time ye old rambler had it. It is always a pleasure to attend a party at the congenial Flannigan home and this one was no exception. The great list included Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Antink of Chicago . . . Speaking of parties reminds us that there were two of them at the Alexander home in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Chester Alexander of Miami. Which also reminds us that early last Thursday morning Mr. and Mrs. Alexander returned to Miami. Our hope is that they enjoyed their stay as much as we enjoyed having them with us . . . Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Antink who hail from Chicago came in about a week ago bringing with them Mr. Antink's mother and a friend of Mrs. Antinks from Chicago. While here they stayed with Mr. and Mrs. Jess Jones. With the party but in another car were Mr. and Mrs. James Mair. While in San Antonio the Antinks and Mair's were entertained at the Flannigans Halloween party. The K of C dance in Saint Anthony hall, an ice cream party at the J. A. Barthles, a card party at the J. T. Bradshaws and a Weiner roast sponsored by the entire younger set of San Antonio. All in all it is the Ramblers belief that their vacation was a pleasant one and in the future instead of an annual visit we hope they come every six months . . . Mrs. Mary Haggerty is back for the winter after a pleasant vacation in Stubenville, Ohio . . . The Herman Veits and a friend from New York are with us again for the winter . . . The hotel annex is being occupied by the G. A. Feichts who have just returned from Canton, Ohio . . . Mr. William Kress who spent part of the summer in Ohio has returned to San Antonio . . . Mr. W. E. Currie of Detroit, Michigan, is back again for the winter. With him is Mr. Clarence Shannon a popular member of San Antonios younger set . . . Mr. Carl Ullrich who has spent the better part of five months in Altoona, Penna., is back in San Antonio bringing with him Mr. Frank Cossetta of Virginia . . . Mrs. Ida Ullrich has just returned to San Antonio after a pleasant vacation in the mountains of Pennsylvania . . . Mr. and Mrs. Adam Yahn of West Virginia are gracing our fair city with their presence after an absence of several months . . . "Welcome back to San Antonio" so say we to all of our visitors in the name of all San Antonians . . . Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived in San Antonio and her name was Margaret Herrmann. She went off to the city but she didn't forget. About two weeks ago she came blowing into San Antonio with a host of her friends and they all made friends with everyone they met in San Antonio. After a day of merriment they adjourned to the Jovita to partake of chicken and all the trimmins. Ye old rambler doesn't usually get in on these private parties but we usually get a smell and this time was no exception. The friends Miss Herrmann brought with her were Mr. William Shivel and Mr. Thomas Whalen of Jacksonville, Mr. and Mrs. Guy B. Goodrich, Mr. Alvarado Fernandez, Miss Helen Dunne and a couple of other charming young ladies of Tampa. It is the ramblers hope that they all return and bring with them other friends . . . Mr. N. K. Therres, Mr. Mike Govreau, Mr. Joe Midili and Mr. Joe DeRosier have returned from Ocala after several weeks Work on the cross state canal . . . Mr. Allen Blount was a visitor in Jacksonville during the past week . . . Fruit season has started in earnest with two crews of San Antonians out in the groves picking the golden pellets that bring in the gold. Pardon me We are on the Silver standard now. With that we will have to Ramble Along.
RAMBLIN' 'ROUND TOWN San Antonio, Florida July 25th, 1935 -- Summer vacations are still the go. Dannie Cannon is spending a couple of weeks at the Indian Rocks beach home of the J. A. Barthles . . . Then there are vacationists at the St. Charles . . . Mrs. Rose C. Jones and Mrs. Bess McIlhenny are using up spare time in Tampa . . . Agnes and Leo Herrmann are swimming daily in Lake Jovita. Nights are being spent at brother Joe's. San Antonio, July 18, 1935 -- On Monday of this week Old Sol, with the help of Mother Earth played a trick on Luna. The clouds being very profuse here in San Antonio many of us did not see the total eclipse but out north of town a clear picture was presented. It is only once in many years that this spectacle is presented and it was surely worth staying up late to see it. A few facts about the eclipse Monday evening are. The moon does not give off light but reflects the light of the sun. The earth passed directly in the line of the sun and the moon on Monday evening producing the total eclipse the moon was not entirely dark because of the atmosphere of the earth. The sunlight filtered through this layer of atmosphere and created an amber color on the moons surface. So much for the eclipse and now for the news we have been able to pick up . . . Paint brushes have been busy at the C. H. Pike store during the week . . . Mrs. A. H. Kahler has been ill at her Curly St. residence during the past week. That she will be up and around soon his the Ramblers wish . . . Mr. A. H. Schrader who has been ill during the past two weeks is now up and able to attend his duties . . . The Moorheads (Henry and Gladys) are sporting a new car . . . A new coat of paint for the Ed Storch auto . . . A new high powered sedan for the Grahams (Russell and Leola) . . . The C. J. Govreaus are now chicken farming at the John Wicher farm near San Antonio . . . Mrs. Nina Kovarik is recovering from an illness at the Dade City hospital . . . The Lynches (Sylvester and Eleanor) of Gainesville were San Antonio visitors over the week-end . . . We've been hearing that within the next few Weeks a young San Antonio Service Station operator will march up the church isle to the tune of Lohengrin. Saint Anthony church grounds now present a neat appearance with a new lawn started and quite a number of new flowers and shrubs . . . Repairs to the roofs of the M. J. Burke home, the A. J. R. Hill home and the A. Wischer home . . . Tampatowners this week--Mr. S. Milidi, Father Felix, Mr. J. A. Barthle, Mr. A. H. Schrader, Mr. R. M. Graham, and Mr. John Grief . . . We see by the paper that Labor Day, September 2nd, will be celebrated in San Antonio in a fitting way. A big picnic and a ball game. We know that everyone is invited and if you attend we know that you will enjoy yourself . . . Visitors at the home of J. P. Lynches during the past week. Mr. and Mrs. Jones of Sarasota and Francis Rolfes. They returned to their home on Thursday of this week . . . A party of San Antonio and Dade City young folks on a weiner roast on Wednesday evening . . . Guess thats about all for this week so I'll be Ramblin along.
RAMBLIN' 'ROUND TOWN San Antonio, November 14th, 1935. --ye old rambler is jest a wonderin hows many of you folks have joined the Red Cross for the coming year. The cost is small and the need is great. Think of all the good the Red Cross does in our own soverign state. In September the disastrous hurricane that swept over Florida. Just lately the big blow on the southern tip of Florida. A few years ago the Okeechobee flood. A few days after each of these happenings The Red Cross had cleared things up and suffering humanity was fed, clothed, and housed. These are just a few examples of the good work being carried on. So when you are asked to join, do so by all means and ask your friends to join . . . Armistice Day 1935 has come and gone. Seventeen years ago when the Armistice was signed and all the world, was again at peace after four years of bloody conflict, we were happy; and glad. But today it seems that the years of peace are soon to end. With every passing day war seems nearer. All nations piling up arms and devising new ways to kill people. Let us pray for peace, real peace among all nations and tribes of the world . . . The week-end just passed was replete with visitors. There was Luella Lynch, who goes to Florida State college for Women, visiting parents and friends . . . George Govreau and family up from Tampa visiting with Mrs. Mary Govreau . . . Mrs. Charles Govreau to Lakeland for the holiday . . . Mr. and Mrs. Charles Blount and two charming daughters in San Antonio over the week-end . . . The Herman Veits entertained friends from New York over the week end . . . Miss Frances Kovarik an employee at Jackson Memorial hospital is spending a well earned vacation at the home of her parents . . . The new and larger Cannon Dairy is now open for inspection. It is indeed gratifying to know that here in San Antonio we have one of the finest, up-to-date and complete dairy farms in Florida. Everyone should take off a few minutes time and look over this new dairy plant . . . Mrs. Frances Brown of Tampa was a week-end visitor at the Wicher ranch . . . So with our ramble ended We Ramble Along |