Punta Gorda's First Real Estate Office

Isaac Trabue, Punta Gorda's Founder,  like many of us came south to get away from cold weather. But while he was getting on in years (late 50s) when he arrived, he was by no means ready to retire.  He purchased the land in Townsship 41 South, Range 23 East, south of the Peace River, because he saw not only a place where he wanted to live, but he saw opportunity.  At the time, the railroads were working their way south, and he was determined to catch the train of fortune he foresaw heading this way.

After he mannged to secure land from James Lanier and through the Florida Land and Improvement
Corporationat at bottom basement prices, he had Kelly B. Harvey slice it up his acquisition into parcels that he could sell at a higher price.  He sold land, managed a post office for new residents and construction workers and ran a law practice from a little white cottage that is now at the History Park. Essentially this was both Punta Gorda's first post office and first Real Estate Office.
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The Story behind the Quednau Hindman House

Fritz Quednau an early settler moved to Punta Gorda from Germany in the late 1800s and opened a cigar factory on Marion Avenue – the town’s first. He and his wife had three sons, one of whom, Fred, was born in 1893 in a modest cottage at 220 Goldstein Street. When young Fred was four years old, his father died and his mother had to go out and work to feed her family. Among those she worked for was Mrs. Issac Trabue, the founder of Punta Gorda.

Young Fred and his brothers left school at an early age to work on the run boats, which carried goods south as far south as the Smallwood Trading Post. At 17, Captain Fred Quednau was the youngest captain to sail the waters around Charlotte Harbor. After a long courtship, he married Belle McBean (he and Belle were the second couple to be married in the new Charlotte County). Belle often joined Fred on his sailing trips, along with their daughter Henryetta “Tosie”.

After Fred gave up his sailing, he ran a restaurant on Marian Avenue and later became Sheriff of Charlotte County. Tosie grew up here, and frequently played in the halls of the old Punta Gorda Hotel. She married Jack Hindman, with whom she had two children. Tosie Quednau Hindman was Supervisor of Elections for over twenty years and well-known and respected in Punta Gorda. She passed away in 2009 in the house on Goldstein Street where her father, Fred, was born.

The house is a true Cracker ‍house with one huge middle room and smaller rooms off to the side. Its layout and history makes it ideal for the goal the Punta Gorda Historical Society has lined up for it — to move it to the History Park on Shreve and make it into a new youth museum.

In 2011 The Hindman’s two sons  agreed to give the Historical Society an opportunity to save the historical building.  Louie Desguin and members of the Historical Society raised the money to move the house to the History Park.  Upkeep and renovations continue.

Come check out the house at the Punta Gorda History Park on Shreve Street.

(From the You Belong with Punta Gorda Blog with permission.)