As I write in my book, “Rotonda: The Vision and the Reality.” “If Rotonda had been square, perhaps fewer would have come. A round community is romantic. It conjures up visions of wagon trains secure in their comfort circles. Round is soft, like Paris. No hard edges, like square New York.”

Klein, of course, was CEO of Cavanagh Leasing Corporation of Miami. It was Klein who flew over Cape Haze in 1969, looking for a site for Rotonda West to replace his sagging Rotonda East, which straddled Martin and Palm Beach counties where Klein was finding the authorities less than friendly.

Klein spotted the Vanderbilt ranch on that flight, realized it perfectly suited his circular vision, and acquired it for $19.5 million. (The Vanderbilt’s had been seeking $10 million, but spirited bidding raised the ante, and Klein was determined. But that’s another story.)

The circular vision was actually said to originate with one Charles Prynne Martin. Martin reputedly had no land planning or architectural credentials, but seemed able to convince Klein a circular or radial concept like much of Paris or Washington D.C. made sense, more so than straight blocks.

The circle became Klein’s driving vision—a community with a central hub, canals reaching out like spokes in a wheel, draining into a river that encircled the entire community, the river draining into creeks and tributaries leading to the Gulf. It was inspired engineering and it has worked for most residents for 40 years, the trauma of Rotonda’s birth now just a memory.

Editor’s Note: These and other historical facts about Rotonda’s early years are outlined in Jack Alexander’s book, ‘Rotonda: The Vision & The Reality,’ and is available for $6.00 at the Rotonda West Community Center, 3754 Cape Haze Drive, Rotonda West 33947, (941) 697-6788.

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In the early ‘70’s the first settlers in Rotonda felt the same. Here they were, in a Florida backwater on what had been a swampy cattle ranch, dependent on a developer of dubious reputation, whose main experience was mass-selling lots rather than building the new community they envisioned.

Mostly they came from up North, bewitched by powerful promotion of dazzling visions of a unique circular community of canals and golf courses—seven of them—built around a commercial core. They wanted mail from loved ones, just to maintain contact with family and friends—those who had said, with raised eyebrows, “You’re moving to where?” just a few weeks earlier.

In February 1972, a tiny post office opened in Rotonda (now occupied by Lil Tony’s Pizzeria) on Cape Haze Drive. The first house had just been occupied, at 8 Annapolis Lane, in October 1971, by the first Rotonda residents, Harry and Joan Kaar, with son Jeff, from Stanhope, N.J.

The Rotonda Post Office would operate as a sub-station of Placida with Mike Saunders as postmaster. Mike and Dorothy Saunders had inked the first Rotonda sales contract, in 1969, but took residence after the Kaars.

There was no home delivery of mail yet. Mike, with help from Joan Kaar, received and sorted the mail which the pioneer residents came by to pick up. “It was a friendly place,” Joan said. “I got to know everybody that way.”

The Rotonda post office was also a local political issue. The residents of Gasparilla, who had seen their post office moved to Placida after WW2, were hysterical that the Placida unit would now be replaced by Rotonda. Thickening that plot, U.S. postmaster general Elmer T. Klassen bought a house at Rotonda, and Placida postmaster Don Scraggs was considering doing so.

Instead, home delivery was started, the Rotonda P.O. was closed, and Joan Kaar went to Placida, eventually as postmaster, and finished her new career at Boca Grande post office.

These and other facts about Rotonda’s development are detailed in Jack Alexander’s book, “ROTONDA: The Vision and the Reality” and is available for $6.00 at the Rotonda West Community Center, 3754 Cape Haze Drive, Rotonda West 33947, (941) 697-6788.

The Superstars had the world’s leading athletes compete against each other in sports other than their own, an idea of ice skater Dick Button. It worked. Virtually every named athlete at the
time—1972-1977—performed here, starting when Rotonda had less than one hundred residents. The TV show put Rotonda on the map.

Meanwhile, Ed McMahon was selling Rotonda personally, on stage or film, at virtually every state fair in the U.S., aided by a network of hotel concierges, bellhops, valet parkers, and pool attendants earning commissions for steering potential buyers to cocktail events and lottery drawings. Rotonda lots sold “like cans of beans,” and gradually homes were built and the first residents took root.

McMahon became a vice president of the developer’s Rotonda corporation, part of his payoff being a Rotonda house and lot. The house, which was sold several years ago, sits on a pond between the 3rd and 12th fairways of The Hills golf course.

McMahon died recently, reminding us of his positive connection here. Many of today’s residents met him and remember him as an affable, approachable gentleman. Less well known is that McMahon was a former Colonel and U.S. Marine aviator, carrier landing qualified, who saw service in both WW2 and Korea.

My book—ROTONDA, The Vision and The Reality— carries on pages 45 and 94 photos of McMahon at Rotonda. One shows him in full “pitchman” mode, offering a “free house and pool” at Rotonda. The other has him with veteran ABC sportscaster Jim McKay and baseball’s Johnny Bench during a Superstars event.

Note: These and other details of Rotonda’s history are chronicled in Jack Alexander’s popular book, “Rotonda: The Vision and the Reality.” Copies are available for $6.00 at the Rotonda West Community Center, 3754 Cape Haze Drive, Rotonda West 33947, (941) 697-6788.

Note: “Rotonda: The Vision & The Reality”, authored by Jack Alexander, copies are available for $6.00 at the Rotonda West Community Center, 3754 Cape Haze Drive, Rotonda West 33947, (941) 697-6788.

Many Rotonda West residents seem unaware that a mid-1970’s investigation of Rotonda’s development by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) resulted in a consent decree that gave us legal “rights, in perpetuity” to use of a segments of Don Pedro’s Gulf-front beach, plus an easement to reach it from Lemon Bay’s intracoastal waterway, where there is now docking space for small boats.

For those unfamiliar with Don Pedro, it is the ecologically sensitive barrier island between Little Gasparilla Island and Knight Island, slightly southwest of Rotonda West, just beyond Cape Haze.

It is truly gorgeous, a broad, pristine beach, provided – originally by the developer, now by the state – with a wellmaintained shelter, picnic tables, cooking grilles, restroom, shower and drinking water facilities.

Whenever I am beset with family or other Northern visitors, I set aside a day for Don Pedro. We walk the clean sand, find shells, dunk in the warm Gulf, and generally thank God for this comfortably nearby part of Paradise.

The detailed account of the FTC investigation and its ultimate decree is in my book: “Rotonda, The Vision & The Reality,” the history of Rotonda’s sometimes rocky development. Also chronicled is the early use of Don Pedro by the developer for parties to promote Rotonda property sales, the early social aspects of Don Pedro Days, Fiesta Club activities on the beach, and the droves of early Rotondans who ferried there and back on the Roundabout, a free ferry run daily by its popular Captain, Arthur “Hap” Lasson. (The platoon boat, powered by twin outboards, was later renamed Cap’n Hap in Lasson’s memory.)

I also account in the book how Don Pedro was almost lost to us later, to be saved only by the efforts of the late Joe Tringali, among others. Today, instead of featuring unwelcome Gulffront condominiums, much of the island is a state park, thanks largely to Tringali, so we can enjoy its serenity to the fullest.

If we can get there. Unhappily, the free ferry is gone (which is another story in the book), but those with boats or friends with boats can readily access Don Pedro. Perhaps, someday, some authority will reestablish ferry service between island and mainland. (Ed. Note: ferry service is available to Don Pedro, but it is not free. Call 941-270-0132 for more information.)

Note: “Rotonda: The Vision & The Reality”, authored by Jack Alexander, copies are available for $6.00 at the Rotonda West Community Center, 3754 Cape Haze Drive, Rotonda West 33947, (941) 697-6788.

All this adversity impacted Florida’s land development and home building, not the least Rotonda’s. Changes in the tax code didn’t help. New regulations on treatment of passive income curtailed Florida’s condo market. And Rotonda’s, too.

The free-swinging “buyer beware” period in Florida real estate was also ending about then. Developers could no longer sell lots like cans of beans. Authorities were more intently scrutinizing everything developers did. Permitting became tighter. New regulations surged into the system.

The environment was another problem for developers.“Ecology” became a new buzz word, as did “wetlands.” The newly-found interests of eagles, scrub jays, gopher tortoises, sea turtles and certain snakes now had to be addressed. This retarded construction in Rotonda West. Huge changes had to be made to Rotonda West’s biggest original development plans, in terms of both scale, and timing.

The end result was that, in effect, oil, taxes and scrub jays threw Rotonda West’s development off stride. It took ten years to get back to normal.

Note: These and other details of Rotonda’s history are chronicled in Jack Alexander’s popular book, “Rotonda: The Vision and the Reality.” Copies are available for $6.00 at the Rotonda West Community Center, 3754 Cape Haze Drive, Rotonda West 33947, (941) 697-6788.

Others deserve recognition, but came along later when things were more settled.

One unexpected name from Rotonda’s early past is O.J. Simpson.

My book, Rotonda: The Vision & The Reality, carries a photo (page 98) of an attractive young Simpson chatting with the late sportscasting legend Howard Cosell. It was during an interlude of The Superstars, the sports event televised nationally by ABC-TV from Rotonda from 1972 until 1976, which attracted here the world’s leading male athletes – and eventually women athletes and celebrities.

Of all the athletes – including such luminaries as Johnny Bench (baseball), Rod Laver (tennis), Joe Frazier (boxing), and Johnny Unitas (football) – O.J. made perhaps the greatest impression, not only for his performance in sports other than his own speciality (the theme of Superstars), but for his graciousness and accessibility.

Most of the athletes mingled easily with the Rotonda residents, with Simpson labeled “a real charmer” along with, especially, Kyle Rote, Bob Seagren and Rod Laver. (Billie Jean King and Reggie Jackson were seen as prima donnas as were some of the Hollywood stars who graced the later games).

The late Ethel Furia, Rotonda’s early historian, remembered O.J. warmly. “When O.J. came he was followed around by groups of kids shouting, ‘O.J., O.J.” she told me.

Pastor Carl Kaltreider recalls that O.J. “spent hours chatting with us… and I remember debating with him stories of Noah and the Arc and Adam and Eve. O.J. (and Kyle Rote and Franco Harris) endeared themselves to us.”

Arguably, much of O.J.’s later wealth and success came from his Rotonda appearance. It was caught on TV by ad agency executives seeking a “personality” athlete to represent Hertz Corporation. Hertz subsequently signed Simpson to a $200,000 per year contract for three years, increased later to $500,000 annually. This exposure garnered O.J. multiple other quality endorsements giving him an eventual income exceeding $1 million a year.

No community exists in a vacuum. Individuals step forward and, for good or ill, put their stamp on its growth. Perhaps there should be a scroll somewhere listing those who indelibly impacted Rotonda. Such a list might include those mentioned herein – plus developers Frank Markle (Deltona), Jerome Cohen (Land Resources), Jim Penzell and Gary Littlestar; church leaders Kaltreider and Edison Brooker; golf professionals Walter “Red” Lathrop, Ray LaGoy, and Ray Floyd, and others.

Also, in a category by himself (you name it); O.J. Simpson.

Note: Updated copies of Jack Alexander’s book, “Rotonda: The Vision & The Reality” are available for $6.00 at the Rotonda West Community Center, 3754 Cape Haze Drive, Rotonda West 33947, (941) 697-6788.

By all accounts, the golf clubhouse was central to Rotonda’s social life. Red, Ray and other early pros took a prominent role in developing the club’s social milieu with the members, including many non-golfers. First pro Lathrop and his wife, Eunice, were hugely popular. “We had about fifty members then,” said George Manyak. “Many had never played golf, but Red Lathrop worked cheerfully with them all.” (George settled into the only two-story house in Rotonda, adjacent to the 4th tee, a story in itself related in my book-Rotonda, The Vision & The Reality.)

Also much beloved was Ray LaGoy, who became head pro in 1979. Ray was a 29-year Class-A PGA member, a PGA Pro-of-the-Year from Ohio. An excellent golf instructor, LaGoy’s appearance confirmed Rotonda’s credibility as a golf center. The members kept agitating for the promised new, more permanent clubhouse. In 1974, the developer always said: “In the near future.” Page 190 of my book features a photo of the proposed clubhouse, as conceived by an architect. “It was something out of Arabian Nights,” said Helen Waldron, first ladies golf champ (1973). “It promised a sauna, health club, and underground parking.” Talk about the Taj Mahal.

“They got a bit fancy, we didn’t exactly have the clientele for it,” said John Meadows, in classic understatement. There was only one course then. Designed by local engineer Jim Petrides, it was built in 1971. It was called the Sunday course, to distinguish it from the six additional courses promised by December 1977, along with the seven marinas (which, of course, didn’t happen. The Links and Palms courses finally opened late 1989, long after the first developer was history.)

After years of false hopes, the new clubhouse (now The Hills) was completed in 1978. The members were happy. “It was much toned down from the Taj Mahal they originally planned,” one member said, “and we lost our original happy bar, which was where the kitchen is now.” The new bar never “clicked,” socially.

By 1981, the developer (the third) was complaining, “The club has operated at a loss for years.” In the face of that dash of cold water, LaGoy was reporting over 200 golf rounds played daily. He said, “1981 will be our best season ever.” Of course the club expanded in time, underwent several ownership changes, survived “the Ray Floyd era” (another story), and has evolved into the best golf value around. But old timers still claim that a memorable era ended in 1978 when the old bar was modernized. Another ended when LaGoy left in 1986.

Editor’s Note: Updated copies of Jack Alexander’s book, “Rotonda, The Vision & The Reality”, are available for $6.00 at the Rotonda West Community Center, 3754 Cape Haze Drive, Rotonda West 33947, (941) 697-6788.

President James Monroe accepted Florida from Spain in 1821, when the invading Spanish went home, whipped by Indians, snakes, predatory animals, oppressive heat and mosquitoes. Monroe named Andrew Jackson (later our seventh president) Florida’s first territorial governor. In 1845, Florida became the 27th state to join the Union. It remained largely a frontier wilderness until the early 1900’s, especially our southwest coast.

Many who first came here were Georgians and Carolinians. They escaped the pending civil war, but endured tremendous hardships establishing their Florida homesteads. Most went back north, disenchanted. This was Indian country. Florida is associated with the Seminole, but it was mostly Calusa that roamed the Charlotte Harbor area, and records suggest they had done so since 3,500 B.C.

The Spanish pirate Jose Gaspar operated freely out of nearby Boca Grande, giving Gasparilla, Useppa, Cayo Costa and Captiva islands their names. In 1822, he attacked a United States frigate thinking it was a helpless merchantman, and reputedly wrapped himself with chains and jumped overboard. His buddy, the English mutineer Brewster Baker, camped on nearby Pine Island and reputedly buried $12 million in gold somewhere on Cape Haze. Perhaps in Rotonda.

Spain’s Ponce de Leon discovered Florida in 1513. He sought to colonize it but encountered resistance from the Calusa. History suggests Ponce was wounded here by a Calusa arrow. Carlos was ultimately captured and executed, his son Don Pedro (named by the Spaniards) assuming tribal leadership. This gave the offshore island of Don Pedro its name.

In 1850, the Swamp Lands Act gave all Florida land to the state, and in 1855 the Tallahassee legislature vested five Trustees with authority to sell it off. The first recorded sale of what is now Rotonda came in 1885, to the Gainesville, Ocala and Charlotte Harbor Railroad. That deed was filed in Manatee County, which then included the Rotonda acres. In 1887, Manatee was divided creating DeSoto County, and local land sales records went there. There was no Charlotte County for another 33 years.

Before 1951, much of Rotonda land sold in small parcels, but by then all of what is now Rotonda was consolidated and owned by Morse Realty Company. That year, Alfred and William Vanderbilt acquired these acres, started a 26,000 acre cattle ranch, developed a fresh water plant and built homes at Cape Haze East.

They sold out in 1969 to Cavanagh Leasing Corporation, for $19 million. In January 1970, a surveyor stuck a stake at the site of the 5 million gallon reservoir declaring it the center of a new community—Rotonda West. In October 1971, Harry and Joan Karr moved into their Rotonda home at 8 Annapolis Lane. They were the first official residents. The rest is history.

Editor’s Note: These and other historical facts about Rotonda’s early years are outlined in Jack Alexander’s book, ‘Rotonda: The Vision & The Reality,’ copies are available for $6.00 at the Rotonda West Community Center, 3754 Cape Haze Drive, Rotonda West 33947, (941) 697-6788.

Reprints of the popular book, “Rotonda: The Vision and the Reality”, are now available in the Administrative Office in Broadmoor Park, 646 Rotonda Circle.

Written by the late Jack Alexander, the 236-page paperback book traces the early history of our community in the 1970s through 2006 featuring its trials and tribulations and the people who made it happen.

Included is a chapter on the “Superstars” competition in the 1970s that featured the world’s greatest athletes competing here in several events. It was telecast by ABC-TV and that jump started the development of our community.

Want to learn about our very interesting history? Purchase a copy of the book for $10.00.

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