(above): Booker High School’s first class. Courtesy Sarasota County Historical Resources.
The Reid and Colson families are celebrated for their contributions to Overtown and Newtown.
eonard Reid graduated valedictorian of Savannah Normal School known as Savannah State University today. Reid boarded a boat heading to Cuba with Italian fisherman in 1900 according to his daughter Ethel Reid Hayes during a 1983 oral history interview with Susan Burns. The group stopped to refuel in Sarasota. He ventured into the black community to meet residents at a party, but missed the departure.
An educated man, the 27 year old worked for a local fish merchant and worked menial jobs for several months.
An introduction to Sarasota’s earliest developer, promoter and first mayor Col. John Hamilton Gillespie was made.
(above): John Hamilton Gillespie, director of the Florida Mortgage & Investment Company came to Sarasota in 1886. Sarasota’s first mayor hired Leonard Reid. Courtesy Sarasota County Historical Resources.
(above): Coachman Leonard Reid with Blanche McDaniel, John Hamilton Gillespie’s second wife, 1905. Courtesy of Sarasota County Historical Resources.
Quick Facts
- Sarasota was incorporated in 1902.
- Gillespie became the town’s first mayor.
Little known history
- Leonard Sproles was born in Greenwood, South Carolina on August 24, 1881.
- He took the last name Reid because of his stepfather and grew up in Savannah, Georgia.
The Reid Family
Eddye Coleman worked for Col. Gillespie as a maid and cook. She met Leonard Reid and the couple married in 1901. They rented a small house in Overtown and continued to work in the Gillespie home.
Quick Facts
- The house was locally designated by the City of Sarasota in 1999.
- It houses Canned Ham Vintage located in the Rosemary District.
Go there: Canned Ham Vintage, 1435 7th Street, Sarasota, FL
(above): Col. John Gillespie’s House on Morrill Street in Sarasota. In the front yard left to right is Mrs. Blanche Gillespie (second wife), Col. Gillespie and Leonard Reid. Reid was confidante and employee of Col. John Gillespie’s house. Courtesy Sarasota County Historical Resources.
The Reid Children
The Reid’s first child, Ray Field was born in the Gillespie home. The couple had 4 children Ray Field, James, Ethel and Viola. All
Reid’s daughters Ethel and Viola earned college degrees and used their skills to educate generations of Newtown children.
Quick Facts
- Parents who worked left their children with Reid and Hayes at the Helen R. Payne Nursery, a pioneer preschool program for African-American children.
- The Reids taught reading, writing and the arithmetic.
- Both were Sarasota County School district educators.
- Both lived in the Reid house at Boulevard of the Arts and Pineapple Avenue until Mrs. Hayes death in 1991.
- Viola Reid was forced to sell the property in 1995.
Little known history
- Eddye Coleman was educated by Gillespie’s first wife, Mary and lived in the Gillespie home for years.
- Miss Coleman’s mother was related to Rev. Lewis Colson.
- Her family came to Sarasota from Perry, Florida in a horse and carriage.
- At age 7, her mother died. Her father died previously. Eddye came under the care of Mrs. Gillespie.
- Eddye died on January 2, 1970; she was 86.
(above): Payne Chapel AME Church. Courtesy Sarasota County Historical Resources.
Founder and Pastor of Payne Chapel AME Church
Col. Gillespie advised Mr. Reid to invest in land. Reid purchased four lots in Overtown owned by his employer.
- Reid and his wife Eddye are founding members of Payne Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church Sarasota’s second African American church.
- A small wood frame building, founded in 1906 was constructed on a lot donated by Col. John Gillespie at Central Avenue and 5th Street.
- It was named after Daniel Alexander Payne, an A.M.E. bishop in 1852.
- The original building was destroyed by a hurricane in 1926. It was replaced by a new three-story masonry structure completed in 1927.
Little known history
- A new church was built in on 19th Street and Central Avenue.
- The historic church was restored and still stands at the corner of Central Avenue and Fifth Street.
- It was among the first revitalization projects in the Rosemary District.
Go there: Historic Payne Chapel AME Church, 19th Street and
Central Avenue, Sarasota, FL
(above): Leonard Reid on a golf course with Col. Gillespie. Courtesy Sarasota County Historical Resources.
Col. Gillespie, Reid and Golf
Gillespie introduced the game of golf to Florida, constructing its first golf course.
- With Reid at his side as assistant, Col. Gillespie laid out the design for Sarasota’s first golf course.
- The golf course is referred to as one of the first in Florida, and perhaps the country.
- Reid is known as the nation’s first greenskeeper and caddy.