A Great Place for a Vacation

A Great Place for a Vacation. Historic Sailfish Trail. Have you ever had a vacation that was so great you didn't want to go home? That's what happened to President Grover Cleveland when he visited Stuart in 1899. The President had such a good time fishing here that he bought a lot just north of where you are standing now. He paid just $225 for the waterfront lot where he planned to build a winter home. Sadly, he died of a heart attack before the home was built. His widow sold the property for $250 and the site eventually became City Hall., If it had existed at the time, perhaps President Cleveland would have stayed at the St. Lucie Hotel. The 25-room hotel wasn't built until 1913. One of only three hotels in town, it quickly expanded just three years later. An annex was added where the Riverwalk Stage is now, and the building was moved in the mid-1920s. You can still see the annex building at the corner of St. Lucie Avenue and Seminole Street today, but the main hotel was demolished in 1967., Presidents weren't the only notable folks to visit Stuart. In the early 1900s the notorious Ashley Gang committed a string of bank robberies along Florida's East Coast – hitting the Bank of Stuart in both 1915 and 1922. The first robbery was at the bank's original location on Osceola Street. In 1921 the bank moved to a new location right behind you, the newly built Osceola-Fuge Building. Boasting two modern fire-proof vaults, the new building may have given customers a sense of security, but it didn't give the Ashley Gang a second thought. On May 12, 1922, the Ashley Gang robbed the bank for the second time., For a time during the Great Depression Stuart had no bank at all. That was until February 1933 when Citizens Bank opened, the precursor to First National and Seacoast Bank – Stuart's cherished local community bank. You can see the Art Deco building the bank built in 1939 at Osceola Street and Colorado Avenue., Captions: , (Top) U.S. President Grover Cleveland fishing in the St. Lucie circa 1899. , (Middle) Suites at the St. Lucie Hotel enjoyed stunning views of the St. Lucie River, city docks, Gulf Oil, and the St. Lucie River Yacht Club. In 1920 a single room and a bath could be had for just $2.50. , (Bottom) Built in 1921, the Osceola-Fuge Building was home to a bank, a grocery store, a five-and-dime store, and many restaurants over the years., For more local history, visit the Stuart Heritage Museum in the Stuart Feed Store building (www.stuartheritagemuseum.com) or the Elliott Museum (www.elliottmuseum.org)..