219 Sullivan Street

 

Circuit-riding Reverend George Gatewood bought this home in 1915.  He was a minister licensed by the Methodist General conference in 1899.  He preached to frontier churches that were beyond the reach of regular clerics with the help of occasional visiting ministers.  He attended the spiritual needs of 200 homesteaders in "Union Services" which were held in schoolhouses throughout the area.  He and his wife supported themselves by operating "General" stores here in town.  He also worked as postmaster, real estate salesman, fisherman and newspaper reporter.  He wrote two books of historical significance:  Ox Cart Days to Airplane Era in Southwest Florida" and "On Florida's Coconut Coast" both of which have been republished by the Punta Gorda Historical Society.  

219 Sullivan Street

 

"Circuit riding' Reverend George Gatewood bought this home in 1915.  He was a minister licensed by the Methodist General conference in 1899.  He preached to frontier churches that were beyond the reach of regular clerics with the help of occasional visiting ministers.  He attended the spiritual needs of 200 homesteaders in "Union Services" which were held in school houses throughout the area.  He and his wife supported themselves by operating "General" stores here in town.  He also worked as postmaster, real estate salesman, fisherman and newspaper reporter.  He wrote two books of historical significance: "Ox Cart Days to Airplane Era in Southwest Florida" and "On Florida's Coconut Coast"  both of which have been republished by the Punta Gorda Historical Society.  

219 Sullivan Street

 

Circuit riding' Reverend George Gatewood bought this home in 1915.  He was a minister licensed by the Methodist General conference in 1899.  He preached to frontier churches that were beyond the reach of regular clerics with the help of occasional visiting ministers.  He attended the spiritual needs of 200 homesteaders in "Union Services" which were held in school houses throughout the area.  He and his wife supported themselves by operating "General" stores here in town  He also worked as postmaster, real estate salesman, fisherman and newspaper reporter.  He wrote two books of historical significance:  "Ox Cart Days to Airplane Era in Southwest Florida" and "On Florida's Coconut Coast"  both of which have been republished by the Punta Gorda Historical Society.  

225 Sullivan Street

This house,  believed to have been constructed in the late 1800s, was originally smaller than its current size.  It is a single-story home, with a one gable roof and wood frame construction.  The "gingerbread" trim across the front is handmade and of the same pattern as that of the Trabue Cottage in the Punta Gorda History Park.  This "gingerbread" design is also in the Farrington House.  The wood frame exterior is cypress, the interior is that of Florida heart pine.  The original weighted windows are still in place with their wide frames and wood sills, plus the wavy distorted glass of the past.  The small bedrooms are typical of those found in homes of that era.  

360 West McKenzie & Sullivan

 William Luther Koon and wife, Elsa lived here for many years. He was a local cattle baron, owner of Bee Branch Cattle Co.  He built this house in 1901.  It had an entrance on Sullivan St. and a side door on Charlotte.  A separate 'garage' was built to house the oxen used to pull the chuck wagon on cattle drives.  The building was moved to its present site in 1999.  W. L. Koon was also president of the Punta Gorda State Bank and used his own funds during the Great Depression to quell the depositors' panic.  This was the only one of the three banks in Punta Gorda to survive the depression.  Mr. Koon was uncle to Sallie Jones, the well-known educator in honor of whom the elementary school is named (Narranj St., Punta Gorda). She became one of the first women in Florida to be a Superintendent of Schools.  

118 Sullivan Street - Punta Gorda Woman’s Club

 

The Punta Gorda Woman's Club was organized in 1925 through the consolidation of three local women's clubs:  the Fortnightly Club, the Married Ladies Club and the Woman's Civic Association.  The building was constructed in 1925 on land donated by Judge William F. Cooper, a winter visitor. Designed for stage productions, dances, large dinners and meetings, the building had a  ticket booth between the main entrance of double doors.  In 2000, unable to maintain the building the Punta  Gorda Woman's Club turned the facility over to the Historical Society to manage.   

112 Sullivan Street

Commissioned by E.V. Babcock of Pittsburg and built by Cassius M. Carrier who was a "timber scout" who bought worked-out turpentine pines in Punta Gorda first for the Carrier, Babcock &  McLean Co. which became the Babcock Carrier Co. and eventually the Babcock Florida Co. which owned and operated the Crescent 'B' Ranch.  (currently the Babcock self-sufficient neighborhood). 

The house was designed by H.R. Stamm, architect for the redesign of the Hotel Punta Gorda to create the Hotel Charlotte Harbor for Barron Collier.  The same builder of the Hotel Charlotte Harbor, C.W. Byers built the Babcock House 

 In 1926 Carrier received a quit claim deed for this Sullivan Street lot and built what has become known as the Babcock House.  The Babcock family used it as their winter vacationing townhouse for many years. The only Italianate-designed structure in Punta Gorda shows multiple tall, narrow windows and an unusual floor plan.  The building houses the Yoga Sanctuary today.  

308 Sullivan Street

Circa 1920

 

Over its history, this cottage built in the 1920s has served as the home to many Punta Gorda businesses including early on a funeral home, Scrooge’s Gift Shop, Harborview Magazine, a Travel agency, a beauty salon and more.

A typical craftman's style house of the time, it originally had a porch. In the 1950, it was enclosed with jalousie windows popular at that time.