Post Civil War
In 1871 Gleason proposed the idea of the state's first Agricultural College to be located in Eau Gallie. Gleason offered a 2,320-acre (940 ha) donation of intermittent swamp lands east of Lake Washington to the Trustees of the Florida Agricultural College if they would select Eau Gallie as the school's campus. Records indicate that Gleason later received $100 from the state for two Eau Gallie lots to be used as sites for college building. The site was approved and the two-story coquina building was completed in 1875, but it was never used for its intended purpose.
Remnants of the old campus are located off of present day Pineapple Avenue (formerly part of U.S. 1), north of Eau Gallie Boulevard. The college reemerged in the north Florida town of Lake City under Democratic leadership during 1884.
Sensing legal difficulties in Dade county, Gleason moved his wife and two teenage sons to the unused campus of Eau Gallie’s Agricultural College during 1882 and 1883. He immediately begin a sawmill and boat building business. The Gleasons' took control of the old college building, living there until they became established. By 1884, Henry and Sara had recorded their village plat of Eau Gallie and began selling lots in their new town.
The Florida State Agricultural College filed to foreclose on Gleason's claim to the vacant college building. After several years of litigation, the Trustees of the college were able to negotiate a settlement. Gleason's "donated" west Eau Gallie land was returned to him and, in exchange, the governor agreed to pay $2000 for the small college building and campus. Gleason and his sons converted the building into the prosperous Hotel Granada during the 1890s. It served the typical tourists of the day, sportsmen seeking fish and game. The two-story coquina hotel was destroyed by fire in 1902. The charred building symbolized the end of an era which coincided with the death of the Lt. Governor the same year. William Gleason's grandson William Lansing Gleason co-founded Indian Harbour Beach, Florida on June 6, 1955.
Read more about this topic: William Henry Gleason
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