Marion Avenue and Taylor - Punta Gorda Herald

 .  The first issue of the Punta Gorda Herald was published February 17, 1893.  Its original building was at Cross Street and Retta Esplanade located on the lower floor of a cigar factory, burned to the ground in 1895. The offices then moved to the location pictured at Marion Avenue and Taylor Street.   In September,  1901 the Punta Gorda Herald was purchased by Adrian P. Jordan. In 1913, Jordan built a new building on the corner of Taylor and Herald Court.   The building was used until it was damaged by Hurricane Charley in 2004.  The Herald SUN is currently located on Harborview Road in Port Charlotte.

401 Retta Esplanade

The original owners were James L. and Mary Lula Seward Sandlin.  James was a member of the first City Council and also mayor of the new city.  Of their six children born in the new city a baby boy lived only 3 days and their second child, Felix, died at 12 years old in 1902.  James Sandlin was an orphan who came to the area with the Morgan family prior to the town of Trabue platting and first settled on Alligator Creek.  He was here to see the first train arrive and soon was engaged in real estate, mercantile, citrus and coastal shipping businesses.  The "widow's walk" on the home enabled Sandlin to check ships at the nearby dock.  He died in 1903.  The house was purchased by Daniel Frank Smoak and also a mayor of Punta Gorda.  Judee Vee Smoak Moore is his daughter and her son Ricky Moore has contributed to this information.