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Fuller defied early death to gamble big in business
By SCOTT TAYLOR HARTZELL ST. PETERSBURG -- About 1883, H. Walter Fuller's doctor gave him the bad news. "Young man, you'll never live to be 21," he told Fuller, who was beset by tuberculosis. "But if you move to Florida at least your last months will be easier." Fuller came to Florida, borrowed $60,000 and cornered the orange market. When the American Medical Association touted orange juice as a weapon against a rampaging flu epidemic, Fuller struck gold. He quickly lost that fortune, but he didn't die at age 21. "Fuller won, lost a few fortunes," Florida Trend wrote about the farmer, developer and politician. "He is one of several men responsible for the expansion of St. Petersburg from a sleepy village on the bay near the railroad to a city that spans the south." Born in the battle-scarred city of Atlanta on May 17, 1865, Henry Walter Fuller later contracted tuberculosis. He came to Tampa at age 18 to try to defy death. Fuller's timely $60,000 citrus purchase in 1886 made him a millionaire at 21. After establishing a steamboat enterprise, Fuller sunk into bankruptcy caused by stiff railroad competition. He moved to Braidentown (Bradenton), where according to his son -- developer and historian Walter P. Fuller -- he later oversaw a dozen businesses and married Julia Reasoner in 1891. They had five children. Fuller's Braidentown general store carried patent medicines, deer hides and Spanish gold. While in Manatee County, he constructed Fort Dade and Fort De Soto and served as a state legislator and senator. But he soured on politics eventually, because "it had come to the point where he had to either get out (of politics) or stop being honest," Florida Trend noted. With some 60 mules and several hundred men in 1907, Fuller came to St. Petersburg to pave Maximo Road. He established the Independent Line of shipping one year later and competed with F.A. Davis' St. Petersburg Transportation Co. By 1909 Fuller was the major shareholder in Davis' empire, which included the transportation company and the electric company. Fuller subsequently built a power plant at 16th Street and First Avenue N and advanced the trolley from 7 to 23 miles long. By 1914, Fuller had established Central Land & Title Co. He widened Central and First avenues N and S to 100 feet and and extended Central to Boca Ciega Bay. He had purchased Treasure Island for $800,000. "He became a millionaire (again) and triggered the city's first real land boom (1911 to 1914)," historian Ray Arsenault wrote of Fuller, who employed professional planners and developed the Jungle Golf Course and the Jungle and Pasadena subdivisions. To boost expansion in St. Petersburg, Fuller arranged for the arrival of Thomas J. Meehan, among the leading land planners in pre-World War I America. Developer Charles Hall (Lakewood Estates) also came here at Fuller's request. Fuller conceived the idea of a bridge between the city and Tampa and teamed with George Gandy on the project. "(Fuller) was a consummate gambler who always seemed to stretch his resources to the limit," Arsenault noted. About 1915 Walter P. joined Fuller in partnership, only to see World War I later send his father into another bankruptcy. Gandy acquired Fuller's bridge interest for $500 and some stock. Creditor George C. Allen loaned Fuller $1-million in 1919; the developer repurchased many of his holdings. "Fuller believed in his product," said Sam T. Johnson, 82, who at about age 6 met the developer. "He was one of the driving forces here." By 1923 Fuller had slashed his $1-million debt to Allen, amassed another fortune and was riding the city's economic boom. Huge tracts of land fell under his domain. To offset slacking summer business here, Fuller established the Laurel Park development in Hendersonville, S.C., and left Walter P. in charge locally. Fuller's dual empires collapsed during the 1925 bust. "H. Walter in all made eight fortunes, lost seven of them," Walter P. wrote of his father, who later regained Laurel Park. Fuller directed Laurel Park until his death at age 77 on Nov. 25, 1942, seated at his desk as he would have wanted, Walter P. noted. He had outlived his doctor's 1883 prognosis by 56 years. -- Scott Taylor Hartzell can be reached at hartzel@msn.com.
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