How Palm Harbor Got its Name

Throughout the years, Palm Harbor has been know by many different names as our community evolved.

Palm Harbor has a rich history of cattlemen, farmers, and citrus growers, among other professions.  Palm Harbor is also noted for being a pioneer town and later a resort and college town!  Settlers came from the northern areas such as Chicago, Illinois and Tennessee to enjoy the weather but mainly to work hard and establish industries, merchant stores and a viable means of support. 

When did they come?  According to documentation at the Palm Harbor Historical Society, 1864 is the first year of historical activity in this area.  Imagine living in an area with no name!   Where do you live?  Well, down yonder, sir!

Bay St. Joseph is the first known name of the Palm Harbor area.  In 1878, when J.C. Craver established the first post office, Bay St. Joseph was officially created.  Keep in mind that St. Joseph Sound is off the coasts of Crystal Beach and Ozona so the name isn’t too unusual! 

The name was short lived.  In 1886, a company named the Sutherland Land and Development Company purchased much of the land that was not owned privately.  The intent was to develop the area into a resort community.  The company began as a group of investors from Omaha, Nebraska, some say as many as 50. 

Sutherland Land and Development Company was instrumental in platting the community in 1888, which at that time was part of Hillsborough County.   The company designed boulevards that bear the names of the states.  According to one account, a grand ball was held upon the completion of the San Marino Hotel built by the company. 

Bay St. Joseph became Sutherland, presumably because of the name of the development company.  However, one juicy tidbit about how the unincorporated town became Sutherland contradicts this.  According to Ira Wood (who was at the grand ball at the age of 16) and her sister Mrs. Eavey as told to Mavis Roach around 1954, Sutherland was not named after the company! 

Apparently, the town was named for an English Duke who was a famous guest at the San Marino Hotel.  According to legend, the Duke was a “dashing playboy” who had a wife back in England.  After the Duke’s wife died in England, he wired that she be buried there.  He then married a Floridian named Madam Blair, at the Episcopal Church he built in Dunedin on Bayshore and Alternate 19.

In 1919, another similarly named company, Sutherland Development Company, came to town.  According to the Estate of James M. Van Valkenberg, the investors were Canadian whose local representatives and possible major stockholders were A.B. and James H. Coleman a.k.a. the Coleman Brothers. 

The Historical Society reports that the group came from Toronto, Canada with A.B.Coleman as President, J. H. Coleman as Vice President and Treasurer and an Executive Manager from Buffalo, NY, J. H. Nichelson.  This group purchased more property and added sidewalks and streetlights. 

With details sketchy about how the town voted in 1925, the name was changed from Sutherland to Palm Harbor and remains so today.  The Sutherland Development Company changed its name to Palm Harbor Developing Company but at this time it cannot be ascertained whether the town voted for the name change before or after the company changed its name.

By the way, do you know that the San Marino Hotel sat on the bluff at Omaha Street and Florida Avenue?  It later became the site for Southern College for a short time and burned down January 29, 1921.