Sarasota Month:
Woman's History Month: Bertha Honorȇ Palmer
Bertha Honorȇ Palmer (1849 – 1918)
Sarasota’s growth and development benefited immensely from
its association with Bertha (Honorȇ) Palmer, widow of Chicago millionaire
Potter Palmer. In 1910, newspaper headlines informed the world that Mrs. Potter
Palmer had acquired 75,000 plus acres in the vicinity of Sarasota and Venice, along Florida’s famed Gulf of Mexico. By the time of her death in 1918, Bertha had, in
eight years, nearly doubled the value of the estate that had been left to her
by her husband. But even before her husband’s death, Bertha had herself
become an accomplished individual. She was by no means simply a wealthy Widow.
A Triumphant World’s Fair:
“In the organization of the board,” reported an
extensive review of the management of Chicago’s 1893 World Exposition, “it was
generally conceded that the election of Bertha Honorȇ Palmer as President
of the Board of Lady Managers was the wisest choice that could be made.” The independent
review spoke highly of the achievements of the Board that had been formed in
1890, and went on to say, “she came to her position with very thorough social training,
with tact and self-mastery that have been invaluable.”
“She is of Southern extraction,” said the World’s Fair
review of Bertha Honorȇ Palmer, “being born in the city of Louisville. She was
educated in a convent at Georgetown, D. C., and is still remembered there as a
student of brilliant promise. She is a fine linguist and a pleasing
conversationalist, two accomplishments that have been of the greatest
advantage.”
In her role as President of the Board of Lady Managers, Bertha Honorȇ Palmer traveled to Europe to promote involvement by other countries in the Exposition. “At the time of the opening exercise last May (1892),’ the review article stated, “the board had the satisfaction of seeing represented in the Woman’s Building a valuable and complete showing from Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Siam, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, and Greece.”
A Woman’s Building at Chicago’s World
Fair:
Says the National Park Service website of the Board of
Lady Managers for the Chicago 1893 Exposition: “During the planning stage, some civically engaged,
upper-class women pressured Exposition administrators for greater
representation. As a result, Congress authorized and funded the Board of
Lady Managers. The 117 Board members were the first women who served in an
official capacity at a world’s fair. Yet, women were still excluded from any
major decision-making. Socialite Bertha Honoré Palmer served as the Board’s
president.” One thing the NPS failed to say about the accomplishments of Bertha and
her Board of Lady Managers is best summarized by an 1893 statement by a review of
the Exposition itself:
“Mrs. Palmer’s efforts
to exploit The Fair in Europe were not surpassed in zeal and perseverance by
those which had such force and weight with the Congress of the United States.
It is universally admitted that no one member of the National Commission or
Directory exercised with that difficult body one-tenth the influence which Mrs.
Palmer exerted through the force of her own personality.”
“It is a
Lovely and Charming Place.”
In late fall 1916, while motoring south from Chicago toward Sarasota, Bertha Honorȇ Palmer detoured onto the Central Branch of the newly established Dixie Highway to pay a visit to Winter Park, a town she described that November as a lovely and charming place. The Widow Palmer had come to Orange County on both business and pleasure.
Earlier in 1916, Bertha
Palmer had been elected the First Vice-President of the Florida Livestock
Association, and so one reason for her driving to Central Florida was to visit
with Dr. William Fremont Blackman. Retired from his position as President of
Rollins College, and not yet ready to publish his acclaimed History of
Orange County, Dr. Blackman had been elected President of the Florida Livestock
Association at the same meeting that February. And so, among other places in
Central Florida she planned to visit, Mrs. Palmer toured Dr. Blackman’s 4,000
acres Wekiwa Ranch on the St. Johns River. Afterwards, she visited the Willett Ranch
at Lake Maitland to “view the thoroughbred hogs that Mr. Willett was making a
specialty of,” prior to proceeding toward her winter residence near Venice. Bertha Honorȇ Palmer was by no means a passive Florida rancher.
Nor did Bertha Honorȇ Palmer likely appreciate how historic her journey through Central Florida had been. After crossing the St. Johns River at Lake Monroe, her motoring would have taken her into downtown Sanford, where in the 1880s, arriving settlers the likes of Piers E. Warburton would have disembarked from steamers arriving from Jacksonville. Piers Warburton came in 1883 and settled at Maitland before moving further south to lay the groundwork for a town of Sarasota.
Driving the new Dixie Highway in 1916, Bertha would have passed through Longwood, where in the early 1880s, the Longwood Whisper was being published by a man who was to become known as the “Dean of South Florida Press,’ the very “Dean” who later published Sarasota’s first-ever newspaper. Next, after departing the lovely and charming town of Winter Park, Bertha Honorȇ Palmer would have crossed a narrow strip of land separating Lakes Ivanhoe and Highland on her way into Orlando, where roadside was located the one-time residence of Joseph H. Lord, the very person who had enticed Bertha to bring much of her vast wealth to Sarasota.
Look for my booth at Sarasota's
History Day in the Park
Phillippi Estate Park
March 25, 2023 from 10 AM to 5 PM
Florida history is chock full of fascinating individuals and intriguing happenstances, a shared heritage between Orlando and Sarasota included. Railroads of the 1880s became the initial link – a means by which to reach Tampa Bay from the steamboat docks at Sanford. And although that was before Bertha Honorȇ Palmer’s time, it was the precise time for a young Irish lass named Winifred A. Hodgson to make the long journey from England to Sarasota.
Florida history indeed includes many of the most fascinating individuals ever – men and women alike. You read a bit about Bertha, was one such founder, and Winifred, she will be next in this March series.
To Sarasota, with Love, Orlando
Our Shared Heritage
By Richard Lee Cronin
Pick up a signed copy at History Day in the Park
Or, Buy it today at Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/author/richardcronin
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