Longleaf Pine forest. 1921 Burgert Brothers
photo of Temple Terrace, pre-development.

Real estate speculators descend upon the banks of the Hillsborough River.

Riverhills Ranch Temple Terrace was originally part of an exclusive 19,000-acre hunting preserve called "Riverhills Ranch," belonging to Chicago socialite Bertha Palmer. One of the largest landholders, ranchers, farmers, and developers in Florida at the turn of the twentieth century, she played an extensive role in making Sarasota the "City of the Arts" it is today. Property acquisition by the Palmers and the Honorés began in 1910.

Only one of the original buildings from the hunting preserve remains today. Now known as the Woodmont Clubhouse, its grounds harbor some of the largest specimens of live oak and longleaf pine in the city, having escaped earlier logging.

The Mediterranean Revival Golf Course Community
It was the vision of Bertha Palmer that the property be developed into a golf course community surrounded by extensive citrus groves, but her death in 1918 prevented her from realizing that vision. Her brother, Adrian Honoré, as trustee of her estate, sold her local land holdings to Burks Hamner, Vance Helm, Maud and Cody Fowler, and D. Collins Gillett. The new owners formed two corporations - Temple Terrace Estates, Inc., which developed the golf course and residential areas; and Temple Terraces, Inc., which developed 5,000 acres of orange groves that surrounded the city to the west and north, and became the largest orange grove in the world. Adrian Honoré retained a seat on the board, while D. Collins Gillett oversaw Temple Terraces, Inc. and owned the first and largest citrus nursery in Florida - Buckeye Nurseries of Tampa.