Today, May, 1, 2025, is the first day of Martin County’s Historic Preservation Month and 2025 is Martin County’s Centennial. I am featuring IRSC student, Connor Larsen ‘s original black and white centennial logo above. Isn’t it awesome?!

This month, Mrs. Saadia Tsaftarides is being honored as Preservationist of the Year for her dedication to the historic neighborhood of Golden Gate. Thus, this month I will focus on Golden Gate and its greater history. For a calendar of events click here.

GOLDEN GATE

Today we will study an historic advertisement for Golden Gate and look for clues to its beginnings. As we know Golden Gate was purchased in 1925  from Captain Henry Sewall’s  subdivision Port Sewall of 1911.

Featured in the 1926 Stuart Developer’s Festival Edition or one year anniversary issue, “Birthday Issue” as my mother calls it, the aerial advertisement reads:

“Golden Gate, Florida’s most beautiful spot. Strategically located. Directly opposite the St. Lucie Inlet – Martin County’s greatest asset. A Master Commercial Townsite backed by men who know Florida and are known for their standing and integrity.

This celebration brings added joy to the developers of Golden Gate because it marks another mile post in the journey toward the realization of their plans for this great development.

To Governor Martin and his staff, to every visitor and to every resident of Martin County, this organization extends its sincere greetings and good wishes.”

The aerial shows that the east side of Golden Gate lies on the St. Luice River where since the early 1900s influential men had been trying to develop a port and one can see the visible opening of the St. Lucie Inlet to the Atlantic Ocean. Golden Gate flanked by railroad tracks and the port was to be a  gateway of commerce through the St. Lucie Inlet. What a dream!

Below’s aerial photograph must be the early roads of Port Sewall/Golden Gate. Indian Street coming off of St. Lucie Boulevard and Dixie Highway where the railroad tracks are located is recognizable. Note “West Lake” and “North Lake,” in the plat map, today’s Willoughby Creek, whose headwaters began where Witham Field lies today and have been channelized to drain the surrounding lands and to run into the St. Lucie River.

G.W. Bingham’s  1925 Golden Gate building was to be the center of sales for a commercial and residential hub, but as fate would have it, today, one-hundred years later, the building is the  House of Hope Center for Enrichment serving Golden Gate’s bustling immigrant community.