When I was a child growing up in Fort Pierce, I lived just a few blocks from downtown,
and it became a sort of secondary playground when things got dull in the
neighborhood. Mostly, I liked to ride my three-speed Schwinn Sting-Ray bicycle to the
Fort Pierce newsstand in the old Fort Pierce Hotel building, which had a wide selection of comic
books and candy.
At about the age of 11, I got a paper route with the local News-Tribune. With a cloth paper
bag slung over my banana seat to hold papers, I pedaled the Sting-Ray — not the most efficient
bike for such an endeavor — on a route that began at the old newspaper office on U.S. 1 and
took me through the heart of downtown and then to the old homes on Second Street.
Most of the deliveries were on what was called a “street route,’’ in which you picked up the
payment of a dime for the newspaper every time you delivered instead of billing the customer
several weeks out.
The most annoying part of the day was delivering papers to employees at the old Strange
Insurance Co. on the southeast corner of U.S. 1 and Delaware Avenue, where one of the women
in the office would stop me every day and tell me, “I have to see who died today.’’ She’d pull a
paper from me, open it on her desk to see the obituaries, close it and then hand the newspaper
back to me. This ritual went on for the nearly two years that I had the route, and the woman
never once bought a paper from me.
But the rest of the route was fun. I’d go into the old Frankie ‘n Johnny’s on Atlantic Avenue,
where the cold AC and the smell of booze would give a jolt from the hot Florida air outside. On
Orange Avenue, I’d travel by the old Woolworth’s and W.T. Grant stores competing across the
street from each other.
Next came the Arcade Building featuring David Taylor’s Soda Shop, Ranchland country wear
and the shoe shine stand of John Horton, who sent a remarkable number of his children through
college with his toils. Heading across U.S. 1, there was a Western Auto store at the corner and
across from that the old Hummel’s bike shop, where my parents had purchased my steed and
where I delivered papers to John, the bike repairman with the wooden leg. At the end of Orange
was the cavernous Fort Pierce Hotel.
Along Second Street, there were several banks, McCrory’s 5 & 10, a J.C. Penney and Rubin’s
men’s and women’s department stores, along with Mr. Tucker’s She Shop, Halsey & Griffith office
supply store, Rosslow’s women’s store, the Walshon shoe store and the jewel of downtown,
the Sunrise Theatre, where I spent many Saturdays watching the movie matinees. Along Avenue
A, there was East Coast Lumber & Supply, Butterfield Drug Store, Sweet’s Jewelers, Fort Pierce
Typewriter and a large discount shoe store.
While many of these businesses no longer operate, a few have never left, including East Coast
Lumber, Sweet’s and Rosslow’s. Luckily, the Sunrise Theatre, shuttered as a movie house in
the 1980s, reopened in 2006 as a performing arts center after a multi-million-dollar renovation.
Except for a grocery store, downtown had almost anything you needed back in that day.
My route then ran to Second Street north of Tickle Tummy Hill to a mixture of homes and
businesses that included the studio and home of landscape artist A.E. Backus and Buck White’s
Tackle Shop. It ended at the old Angler’s Lodge and a surrounding trailer park, roughly located
where Seaway Drive is today.
My memories of downtown circa 1970 were summoned on two recent occasions. The first was
when an attendee at the Treasure Coast History Festival we produce every January asked me to
describe what downtown used to be like. The second came while putting together this edition
and reading Anthony Westbury’s story on downtown’s renaissance.
Like many other downtowns, Fort Pierce’s came under increasing competition from suburban
malls in the early 80s. Many of the above businesses closed during that time. In an attempt to
compete, the city closed off Second Street between Orange Avenue and Avenue A and put in
large planters and bench areas to make it more pedestrian friendly. It didn’t work, with most of
the objections coming over the loss of parking spaces.
We have seen several more attempts over the last decades at a comeback without much success.
Signatures:Signatures 2/25/13 4:25 PM Page 1
But the resurgence of downtown over the last 20 years seems real, with the opening of the
new city hall, the reopening of the Sunrise Theatre and the construction of Leo Enriquez’s Renaissance
building in mid-2000s followed later by the construction of the new federal courthouse and
expansion of the new marina and the opening of Gus Gutierrez’s Galleria at Pierce Harbor.
And ever since 2008, when the city’s H.D. King power plant between Indian River Drive and
Second Street was razed, the city has had a trump card to play — development of this 7-acre
waterfront parcel between Indian River Drive and Second Street.
City commissioners in November voted to accept the proposal from Audubon Development to
build King’s Landing, which will feature a 120-bed hotel, 60
condo units, eight single family homes, 40,000 square feet of
retail space and 14,000 square feet of restaurant space.
I may not ever pedal a Schwinn Sting-Ray again, but I
look forward to when downtown is once again as vibrant as
in the days of my youth.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
4
Publisher & Editor
Gregory Enns
772.940.9005
enns@indianrivermag.com
Associate Publisher
Allen Osteen
Director of Sales
Lisa Crawford
516.721.0848
lisa@indianrivermag.com
Contributing Writers
Susan Burgess, Rachel Cuccurullo,
Pattie Durham, Janie Gould,
Anthony Westberry
Copy Editors
Pattie Durham, Gaettane A. Paul
Photographers
Gregory Enns, Anthony Inswasty,
Joe Semkow, Anthony Westberry
Cover Photo
Joe Sweat, City of Fort Pierce
Design Editor
Michelle L. Burney
Social Media
Alexander Moreland
Accounting
Casey Glenn
casey@indianrivermag.com
Advertising Representatives
Sunny Gates
772.204.5043
sunny@indianrivermag.com
Marsha Lange
772.237.1717
marsha@indianrivermag.com
Chris Ruth
772.200.9643
chris@indianrivermag.com
Lauren Shott
772.672.9859
lauren@indianrivermag.com
Distribution
Wes Holloway, Kirk Jones
To subscribe
Send a $20 check with
recipient’s mailing address to
Indian River, 308 Ave. A,
Fort Pierce, FL 34950 or visit
www.indianriverstore.com
On the Web
www.fortpiercemagazine.com
M A G A Z I N E
Fort Pierce Magazine is
published annually by
Indian River Magazine Inc.,
a locally owned company based at
308 Ave. A, Fort Pierce, FL 34950.
All material contained herein
is copyrighted by
Indian River Magazine Inc.
Member of the St. Lucie County
Chamber of Commerce.
Downtown on the rebound
Reach Publisher and Editor Gregory Enns at
772.940.9005 or enns@indianrivermag.com.
/fort-pierce-magazine
/www.indianriverstore.com
/www.indianriverstore.com
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