Browse Items (17 total)
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Crowd of observers, c. 1950
Line of people stand on the side of the road next to a car with the logo of Christopher Electric Shop. a loudspeaker on top. -
Seminole Reptile Gardens crowd, c. 1954
Group portrait taken in front of the bleachers at the Seminole Reptile Gardens. Crowd in the stands behind the group are spectators for a wildlife show at the park.
Seminole Reptile Gardens was a tourist attraction on the east side of US 1, at Central Parkway (in 2025, where the Martin County School Board is located). Gene Coppedge opened Seminole Reptile Gardens on May 30, 1954 after leasing 3 acres from Ralph Ulmer for the attraction which included a Seminole Indian village, gift shop and Florida wildlife tours and shows.
According to the Stuart News (27 May 1954), wildlife at the park included "...panthers, bears, raccoons, otters, deer, opossums, gray squirrels, fox squirrels, skunks, civet cats, foxes, wildcats, native Florida birds including the caracara (and the flamingo, once a native bird) and a snake pit where Florida diamondbacks, cottonmouth moccasins and coral snakes will be displayed" An alligator pit was also a major feature at the park.
The business venture appears to have been short lived as there is no mention of the Seminole Reptile Gardens in the newspaper after June 1955. -
Full crowd at rodeo, c. 1955
Crowds fill the stands for a rodeo at the Circle T Ranch in Indiantown. -
Rodeo performer jumps with two horses, 1956
A rodeo performer vaults over a rail while riding two horses at the Circle T Ranch and a crowd watches from the stands. -
Rodeo performer stands on two horses, 1956
A rodeo performer stands on two horses while spectators watch from the stands at Circle T Ranch. -
Rodeo performer wrestles with a bull, 1956
Rodeo performer wrestles with a bull at the Circle T Ranch while a crowd watches from bleachers in the background. -
Rodeo performer wrangles a bull, 1956
Rodeo performer wrangles a bull at the Circle T Ranch while a crowd watches from bleachers in the background. -
Bull charges rodeo performer at Circle T Ranch, 1956
A bull charges a rodeo performer at the Circle T Ranch while a crowd watched from bleachers in the background. -
Rodeo at the Circle T Ranch, 1956
Rodeo performers on horses chase a bull at the Circle T Ranch. -
Rodeo at the Circle T Ranch, c. 1955
Rodeo participants and spectators gathered around the rodeo horse enclosures at the Circle T Ranch in Indiantown.