LIVING HISTORY
it is sometimes possible to
“prove” an image was the work
of the Hill family because it can
be seen hanging on the wall in
photographs of the studio of the
Florida Photographic Concern.
That was the case with the popular
image titled “Rapid Transit
in Ft. Pierce” or “Hauling Citrus
the Old Fashion Way” and the
famous portrait of Seminole
matriarch Polly Parker.
SAVING THE COLLECTION
Hill died in 1937, and his
son, Lowell and Lowell’s wife,
Merle, continued to operate the
Florida Photographic Concern.
Much of the legacy might have
been lost but for a Fort Pierce
native who understood its importance
and a Hill descendant
who maintained a collection of
her great-grandfather’s work.
Bob Gladwin, a founder of
the History Center, added more
than 1,000 negatives and prints
to its collection. Gladwin had
salvaged them from the old Hill
family home and studio, where
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Billy Bowlegs III
and his family were
the best-known
Seminole subjects
of Hill’s photographs.
Top left,
Bowlegs poses outside
Hill’s home.
The Seminole Bank
of Stuart later used
the photo as its
logo. Top right,
Billy Bowlegs III
poses in the Hill
studio with his halfsister
Lucy Pierce
and her daughters
Ada and Anna.
Above, after the
photo shoot, Bowlegs,
Lucy, Ada and
Anna walk down
Second Street accompanied
by an
unidentified man.
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