SARASOTA – Three-time Sarasota Mayor Harry Higel was the toast of the town, a visionary developer whose personal steamship, gas-and-kerosene dealership and campaign to become independent from Manatee County were among the cornerstones of his efforts to bring a sleepy Florida village into the 20th century.
He energized the local economy by luring wealthy snowbirds to Siesta Key with marketing slogans like “Think of it! Living on a tropical island on Sarasota Bay where one can bathe in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, hunt, fish motor and enjoy life the year around.” He opened his 150 person dining-hall capacity Higelhurst Hotel at Big Pass in 1915, and ferried 200 guests for the grand opening. He hobnobbed with the likes of city founders Owen Burns, John Hamilton Gillespie, and the Ringling Brothers.