LIVING HISTORY
Hill house narrowly escapes demolition
BY CAMILLE S. YATES
When Harry Hill came to Fort Pierce, the city was
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just three years old, the offspring of a fort and a
fishing village.
The fort was built during the Second Seminole War
(1835-1842) by Col. Benjamin K. Pierce. In the 1860s, settlers
began to move in around the fort, and to the north of
Moore’s Creek, they spawned a fishing village and named
it Edgartown after the son of an early pioneer. In 1901, the
fort settlement and Edgartown were incorporated as the
City of Fort Pierce.
Hill arrived soon after, and paid $300 for a half-acre parcel
on North Second Street. The land boasted a nearly new
one-story structure, at 407 N. 2nd Street, and Hill added
two more, the first at 409 N. 2nd, the other, also on the
property, of concrete and stucco.
It was in these three buildings on North Second Street
that Hill established the Florida Photographic Concern.
Although he was an avid beekeeper and pineapple grower,
his hobby of photography took up much of his time, and
by 1908 his photo business was thriving.
Generations of Fort Pierce families passed through the
doors of these buildings to have their portraits taken. In the
concrete structure, Hill stored hundreds of glass negatives
of his photographic work. These photos have provided
important historical documentation of St. Lucie County
GREGORY ENNS
This is how the Hill house and studio appear today. Architect Phil Steele
has purchased the property and plans to restore the buildings.
and even farther afield, because Hill was hired by Henry
Flagler to document the Key West extension of the Florida
East Coast Railway.
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE
The architectural style of the two wooden structures is
Frame Vernacular, the prevalent style of architecture in
Florida during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Before the
railroad came through the area, settlers used readily available
local building materials, which included nearby pine
trees. Typically, the Frame Vernacular style includes wood
balloon frame systems extending up from brick pier foundations.
The roofs are gabled and steeply pitched so as to
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